


Super Secret Boy Band

by DawnieWrites



Series: Super Secret Boy Band [1]
Category: 2 Broke Girls, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: 50 Themes, Crossover, F/M, Ficlets, Future fics, Pregnancy, Sex, Sisters, Twins, families, occasionally there is sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-26
Updated: 2013-12-01
Packaged: 2017-12-16 05:49:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 32
Words: 24,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/858549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DawnieWrites/pseuds/DawnieWrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of 50 sentence prompts. Multiple ships. (Clintasha/Blackhawk/Hawkwidow; Pepperony; TaserSmash; Thane; Star Spangled Key; Soviet Cupcakes) May be elaborated on. May not. Crossover with two other fandoms.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Clintasha

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Clintasha=Clint/Natasha

**01 – Comfort**

They always manage to find comfort in each other; whether they have been working solo or as a pair, they know that the other will always be able to understand.

**02 – Kiss**

Their first kiss is heated and passionate and meaningless, a last-ditch effort to hide in plain sight while running from the _policie_ in Prague; but every kiss after carries its own unique message.

**03 – Soft**

Their bed is made up of soft pillows and warm blankets and clean sheets to make up for hard bodies and cold hearts and blood-stained hands.

**04 – Pain**

Nothing hurt more than seeing him with blue eyes and knowing that for once, he didn't have her back.

**05 – Potatoes**

Clint is the only person who knows that Natasha is allergic to potatoes, and sometimes has to remind her.

**06 – Rain**

Though she would never admit it, Natasha remembers a dream she had once as a little girl of being kissed in the rain; she never told Clint but when they were stuck in the rainforest waiting for an extraction that seemed like it would never come, Clint made sure to kiss her.

**07 – Chocolate**

Her favorite is the sweet, white chocolate that melts on her tongue; his is the dark, bitter chocolate that tastes like tart raspberries

**08 – Happiness**

Natasha knows happiness; when she was still Natalia, the Red Room's prized possession, happiness was a memory of her mother singing a lullaby or her father reading her a story; After the Red Room, it's the sound of coarse laughter and the feeling of calloused hands, the sight of blonde hair and blue eyes and the sure feeling of someone – Clint – always having her back.

**09 – Telephone**

They disconnect their phones at least once a week; it's a way for them to escape reality with each other, if only for just a little while.

**10 – Ears**

Clint has sensitive ears; just not quite as sensitive as his partner's.

**11 – Name**

He was the first person to acknowledge her new name among the SHIELD ranks, but he was not the first to give her a nickname.

**12 - Sensual**

Natasha is a master with knives; but she quickly learns exactly how sensual it is to watch Clint work.

**13 – Death**

Neither of them fears death; death is an old friend to both of them, simply biding his time, and they know that when the time come they more likely than not will greet him together.

**14 – Sex**

They work together in the field for years before they finally end up in the bedroom, but their chemistry translates amazingly well.

**15 – Touch**

Touch transmits so many things for the both of them; months after she defected to SHIELD, Natasha wouldn't allow anyone near her, not even the instructors sent to evaluate her, except for Clint, and after he loses his hearing, each touch takes on a whole new meaning for the both of them.

**16 – Weakness**

They both have their weaknesses; little things not written in their files, things that only the other know, and that's the way it's going to stay.

**17 – Tears**

Natasha doesn't cry for anyone to see, not real tears; the only people who have ever seen her really cry are dead…except for Clint, who has been sworn to secrecy for fear of his life.

**18 – Speed**

Natasha loves speed; as a part of the Red Room, the closest thing she ever felt to freedom was when she was driving as fast as possible in whatever car they provided for her and it's the reason she lets Clint drive, why she loves it when he flies – he's the only person she knows who can drive faster than she can.

**19 – Wind**

Clint will always remember the sight of Natasha standing on the balcony of their shared hotel room two days after their evacuation from the shit-storm that was Budapest; to him, nothing could compare to how beautiful she looked with her hair blowing in the wind.

**20 – Freedom**

Natasha never thought she would ever know the feeling of real freedom until she met Clint.

**21 – Life**

They have both seen and done horrible things in their lives, yet despite all of this they know about life, and life would be meaningless without someone to share it with, without each other.

**22 – Jealousy**

Clint doesn't admit it, but whenever Natasha has to seduce a target, she can tell that the jealousy is there, especially afterwards; she can tell by the way his hands glide over her body as he helps her undress, by the way he whispers in her ear, and by the way he holds her at night when they are sleeping.

**23 – Hands**

The thing she loves most about Clint is his hands; strong and calloused from years of training, but unnervingly gentle all the same.

**24 – Taste**

He's never tasted anything as sweet as her lips.

**25 – Devotion**

To her country, to the Red Room, to her handlers, it was devotion forced upon her by survival instinct and necessity; Clint is the one person, and SHIELD is the one thing, that she chose devotion for.

**26 – Forever**

It may not be possible – logically they both know that – but they both secretly think that they've got the closest thing to forever there is.

**27 – Blood**

They can't stand the sight of their blood on each other's hands, even if they weren't the ones who caused it.

**28 – Sickness**

Neither of them gets sick very often, but Clint does so more often than she does; she'd never admit it to him, but she doesn't mind taking care of him when he does.

**29 – Melody**

Clint loves the old Russian melodies she sometimes hums or sings when she thinks that nobody is around to listen.

**30 – Star**

After the bad missions, the ones that mess with their heads, Natasha sits outside with Clint at the highest point he can find and lets him point out the stars and constellations.

**31 – Home**

The only permanent home they've ever had is with each other.

**32 – Confusion**

Nothing will ever be as confusing as the first time she went on a solo mission and he woke up to realize she was no longer in their bed.

**33 – Fear**

Clint is the only person she has ever trusted enough to confide her fears in.

**34 – Lightning/Thunder**

Even before they started permanently sharing living quarters, they always shared a bed during thunderstorms; so that with each peal of thunder and each crack of lightning, neither has to face the nightmares alone

**35 – Bonds**

She freed herself from her handlers, but she thinks that Clint is the one who really severed the bonds holding her to the Red Room, with a single arrow just inches from its mark in a dark alley in St. Petersburg.

**36 – Market**

They both know exactly how much they're worth on the black market – they have made many enemies over the years after all – which is why they always watch each other's backs.

**37 – Technology**

One of the things they love most about modern technology is the medicine; without them, they both would have been dead years before they had been able to meet each other.

**38 – Gift**

Natasha insists that the best gift Clint ever could have given her was the choice to live or die; it was the first time anyone had ever let her choose anything in her life before.

**39 – Smile**

Clint doesn't smile often around people other than Natasha and Coulson; so when they're waiting for Thor to take Loki back to Asgard, Natasha makes sure to make him crack a smile, just to spite the would-be God-king.

**40 – Innocence**

Neither of them has been innocent since they were children; which is why when Natasha brings home a young girl of about five after a mission to break a child-trafficking ring, he doesn't protest at all.

**41 – Completion**

As corny as it is, the first time they fall into bed together and he takes the time to make love to her instead of just having sex with her, she can't help but think that maybe that's what completion feels like.

**42 – Clouds**

Occasionally, when the world doesn't need saving and SHIELD doesn't need their skills, they take the time to be children for a few hours and pick out shapes in the clouds.

**43 – Sky**

The reason he prefers the high ground, she learns, is not always because of the vantage point; it's often because of the view of the sky as well.

**44 – Heaven**

There's too much red in both of their ledgers for either one of them to dream such a place could even exist; but they can still hope.

**45 – Hell**

Hell is something they've both seen in person; Abidjan, Budapest, and even New York, all fall under their personal definitions of the word

**46 – Sun**

As much as they hate early mornings, being able to see the sun means that they've been able to survive another night, another mission, another fight.

**47 – Moon**

He will forever insist that the moon will never look more beautiful than if she were standing in front of it.

**48 – Waves**

The both of them will always remember the beach in Sri Lanka, where the waves carried away the bathing suit that she wasn't using anyway but still made him pay for.

**49 – Hair**

Her hair is one of the things he loves most; not the length, but the vibrant red color that she once told him she got from her mother – it's the one thing she's most proud of.

**50 – Supernova**

When they do come together for the first time after New York, it's not heated or rushed like almost every other time; this time it's slow and passionate, ending in a supernova of gasping breaths and biting nails and hyper-sensitive skin.


	2. Pepperony

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pepperony=Pepper/Tony

**01 – Walking**

Pepper walking in a pair of heels will always be one of Tony's favorite things.

**02 – Waltz**

It was the only dance both of them knew how to do when she attended her first Stark Industries affair as his assistant.

**03 – Wishes**

She doesn't make wishes anymore, but Tony seems to know exactly what she needs at any given moment these days.

**04 – Wonder**

He'll forever consider Pepper one of the seven wonders of his world.

**05 – Worry**

She'll always worry about him, even when he's safe in bed with her.

**06 – Whimsy**

Pepper prefers Tony's whimsy to anything else; even when she's too mad to speak, it always brings a smile to her face.

**07 - Waste/Wasteland**

She was the first person to figure out exactly how to understand the wasteland that was his unusual mind.

**08 - Whiskey and rum**

Tony learns the hard way that Pepper can hold her liquor with the best of them, and contrary to popular belief, she prefers whiskey and rum over margaritas and cocktails.

 **09 – War**  
He made his fortune off of it for so many years, he wasn't surprised when the board of directors tried to push him out of the company when he declared he wanted out of the weapons game; he was, however, pleasantly surprised when Pepper rose to his defense, the first person to support his efforts for a new era for Stark Industries.

 **10 – Weddings**  
It's at the top of the list of affairs that both Pepper and Tony actively try to avoid; not because neither of them has thought about it, (they have, extensively), but because they both know that it would paint an even bigger target on Pepper's back.

 **11 – Birthday**  
Tony's birthday has become a substantially smaller affair since the events of the Stark Expo, but he never misses the chance to throw Pepper a party, even if it's just the two of them there.

**12 – Blessing**

She will never stop being grateful for the blessing in disguise that was Tony's arc reactor.

**13 – Bias**

They both agree that their daughter is the most perfect thing in the world; then again, they are just a bit biased.

**14 – Burning**

Pepper quickly got used to Tony blowing something up in the lab at least once a week; the smell of burning equipment, (metal, rubber, plastic, etc.), no longer bothers her as much as it used to.

**15 – Breathing**

She lies awake in the middle of the night sometimes, just to make sure that he's still breathing, that the light from his arc reactor is still there.

 **16 – Breaking**  
Pepper feels her heart breaking the moment Obadiah and James pulled up to Stark Manor without Tony in tow; she doesn't experience a feeling quite like it until she watches him fly a nuclear warhead into a portal above New York on live television…and doesn't see him fly out again.

 **17 – Belief**  
Tony doesn't believe in God; if anything, he has a firm belief in Pepper Potts.

 **18 – Balloon**  
The first year Pepper was working as Tony's P.A., he ordered a helium balloon for her birthday; Pepper still has it, now deflated and pressed in the pages of a scrapbook.

 **19 – Balcony**  
He finally gets over his hero-complex and, remembering her love for Shakespeare, proposes to her on the most romantic balcony his money can find.

**20 – Bane**

Tony will forever be the bane of her existence…and she really wouldn't have it any other way.

**21 – Quiet**

Pepper hates it when Tony gets too quiet; Tony is loud and vibrant and brilliant, and silence only comes when he sinks too far into himself.

**22 – Quirks**

She quickly becomes accustomed to the thousands and thousands of Tony's little quirks, but it isn't a few weeks after they start dating that she realizes that at some point he learned hers as well; such as the way she always adds the slightest hint of caramel and vanilla to her coffee.

 **23 – Question**  
One of the very first lessons Virginia Potts learns after being hired as Tony Stark's personal assistant is not to question what Tony does in his workshop; the answer will in all likelihood not make sense to anyone not of either genius-level IQ or frat-boy stupidity.

 **24 – Quarrel**  
Tony insists that he and Pepper don't fight, they quarrel, and yes there is a _huge_ difference, thankyouverymuch.

 **25 – Quitting**  
Pepper makes a habit of quitting Stark Industries at least once a month after she becomes CEO, because Tony is always there to woo her back.

 **26 – Jump**  
She trusts Tony to always catch her.

**27 – Jester**

For too long, he was a Jester in an empty court…until he met a Queen with strawberry-blonde hair and blue-grey eyes.

**28 – Jousting**

Pepper quickly nixes Tony's idea of challenging Thor to a medieval joust when the Renaissance Fair rolls into town.

**29 – Jewel**

The jewel of Pepper's collection is not, in fact, an actual jewel; instead, she keeps hidden in the back of her closet the very first arc reactor that saved Tony's life two very important times.

**30 – Just**

Some days she lets him ghost her out of the office, onto the jet, and to some unknown place and just…be…for a day.

 **31 – Smirk**  
Tony knows he's in trouble by the way Pepper smirks.

 **32 – Sorrow**  
He doesn't express sorrow often or easily, so when he does, Pepper always makes sure that he has a shoulder to cry on instead of a bottle to drown in.

 **33 – Stupidity**  
She doesn't understand how someone to brilliant can make such amazing decisions of stupidity.

 **34 – Serenade**  
Tony serenades her in private, with words whispered against skin and songs sung quietly in the dead of night.

**35 – Sarcasm**

His wit and sarcasm seem to disappear in her presence, something she will never, ever, take for granted.

**36 – Sordid**

They both have sordid pasts, but somehow the broken pieces fit together and the past doesn't seem to matter so much anymore.

**37 – Soliloquy**

Tony will never forget the morning he woke up to hear Pepper quoting one of Shakespeare's soliloquies in her sleep.

**38 – Sojourn**

They sojourn to Malibu every summer, in the house they rebuilt together.

**39 – Share**

She is the only person he has ever shared his heart with, both metaphorically and literally.

**40 – Solitary**

Tony hates crowds, having been thrust into them too many times as a child, but he hates being solitary so much more since Afghanistan; Pepper will always be plenty enough to ease his tension.

**41 – Nowhere**

Their honeymoon lasts one month with only JARVIS and no work or world-saving while they waste away on some island in the middle of nowhere.

**42 – Neutral**

He will never be able to remain neutral when it comes to Pepper.

**43 - Nuance**

Tony notices the slight nuances in her actions and emotions and personality before Pepper even has time to consider the possibility.

**44 – Near**

Tony insists that he will only attend board meetings when Pepper is near him as soon as he makes her his assistant.

**45 – Natural**

Pepper is a natural when it comes to business, but Tony pays for the college classes anyway just to shut up the too-nosy reporters.

**46 – Horizon**

They will always look towards the horizon together.

**47 – Valiant**

Tony makes a valiant effort to remember her birthday every year; but the one thing he never forgets is the anniversary of their first kiss.

**48 – Virtuous**

She will forever insist that he is one of the most virtuous men she knows.

**49 – Victory**

Pepper's victory dance after a busy day of successful meetings is one of the things that made him fall even deeper in love…and brought with it the revelation that he wanted to marry her.

**50 – Defeat**

Tony will never admit defeat, not until he is broken and beaten and crawling on death's door; and that's what Pepper is most afraid of.


	3. TaserSmash

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TaserSmash=Bruce/Darcy

**01 - Ring**

Darcy doesn't know which is more surprising; Bruce's proposal, or the handmade ring that he proposes with.

**02 - Hero**

Bruce doesn't consider himself a hero until he sees himself through Darcy's eyes.

**03 - Memory**

Bruce's memory of his actions while the Other Guy are fuzzy at best, so Darcy makes sure to tell him everything.

**04 - Box**

"Bruce, have you seen my glasse-? Oh my god what is that? What are you doing? No! Don't kneel! Get up! _Robert Banner don't you dare open that box_ -!"

"Darcy Lewis, will you marry me?"

**05 - Run**

Darcy makes it her personal goal in life to make sure that Bruce never has another reason to run from anything ever again.

**06 - Hurricane**

Bruce can tell when Hurricane Darcy is in the building based on how twitchy all of the agents look when he arrives.

**07 - Wings**

"Darcy, I'm not a vet you know."

"But look at his poor little wings!"

**08 - Cold**

Darcy is used to both winters in New York and the New Mexico desert at night, but Bruce still wakes up some cold mornings to find her buried underneath all of the sheets and blankets.

**09 - Red**

Bruce quickly learns that when Darcy puts on her expensive bright red lipstick, she just needs a little reassurance that no: she is not useless, and yes: he and Jane probably wouldn't know what to do without her.

**10 - Drink**

After her first week of working as lab assistant in Avenger's Tower, Darcy drags Dr. Banner out of the lab and buys him what she considers a well-deserved drink.

**11 - Midnight**

Their first kiss happens on her twenty-fifth birthday when she blows out the candles on her birthday cake and leans over to grant her wish herself just as the clock strikes midnight.

**12 - Temptation**

Bruce has to admit that temptation for him can be defined in two words: Darcy Lewis.

**13 - View**

"You could join me you know."

"Yoga's not really my thing, I'm bendy enough without it. Besides, I like the view from here."

**14 - Music**

One of the first lessons that Brice learns is not to mess with Darcy's music; she still hasn't forgiven S.H.I.E.L.D. for taking her iPod.

**15 - Silk**

Soon after they start 'officially' dating, Darcy steals Bruce's favorite purple silk shirt and refuses to give it back or apologize.

**16 - Cover**

Darcy passes her field agent tests with flying colors and is sent on her first deep-cover assignment six months later; after her cover is almost blown during a random HYDRA attack that warranted the appearance of an over-protective Hulk, she is quickly reassigned as the team's permanent handler, much to Bruce's silent joy.

**17 - Promise**

They agree to write their own wedding vows, and the things they promise each other make all of the guests laugh and cry, but not more than the bride and groom themselves.

**18 - Dream**

Darcy hopes to God that Bruce's...condition...hasn't changed the dream she knows he used to have of someday having a family.

**19 - Candle**

Darcy lights a candle every night she has to crawl into bed alone because of an Avengers mission or debriefing running late; if it's been put out when she wakes up, she knows that Bruce will be there when she rolls over.

**20 - Talent**

Darcy is pleasantly surprised to find that both she and Bruce share a talent for cooking.

**21 - Silence**

Silences between the two of them are never really silent - they're usually filled with Darcy's music blaring from her headphones and Bruce tapping away at a StarkPad - unless one or both of them are well and truly furious with the other.

**22 - Journey**

The moment Bruce realizes he's in love with Darcy Lewis is when he walks into the supposedly-empty lab at four in the morning to find her singing loudly to a _Journey_ song playing on her iPod while doing Dr. Foster's paperwork.

**23 - Fire**

What makes Bruce lose control and Hulk out isn't the inexperienced lab technician knocking over the burner; it's the sound of Darcy's scream at the sight of the spreading fire.

**24 -Strength**

Darcy will forever insist that Bruce Banner has more strength than any other person she will ever meet.

**25 - Mask**

Darcy is the first person that Bruce truly lets down his mask for.

**26 - Ice**

"I swear to God! If I see one more nurse with that stupid silver bucket, I'm going home and having the baby there!"

"I take it you don't want more ice then?"

**28 -Forgotten**

Darcy is so used to being forgotten - by her parents, by her exes - that when Bruce remembers her birthday and their anniversary, she actually starts to cry.

**29 - Dance**

Bruce surprises Darcy when he reveals that he actually knows how to dance.

**30 - Body**

He's the first person to make her feel as confident about her body as she makes people believe she is.

**31 - Sacred**

Their date nights are rare and sacred, with any interruptions met with threats of impending doom.

**32 - Farewells**

They don't think about farewells; if either of them needs to even think about thinking about it, it means they've reached a worst-case scenario, and Darcy has rules about not thinking about those kinds of things because tempting fate, the fickle bitch, is a dangerous thing.

**33 - World**

Ever since Darcy breezed into Avengers Tower, she completely flipped his world upside down, and Bruce wouldn't change it for anything.

**34 - Formal**

Darcy's pretty sure it's illegal for someone to look as hot as Bruce does in formal wear - not that she's complaining.

**35 - Fever**

The first time Darcy comes into work with a fever, Bruce physically escorts her back to her living quarters and tucks her into bed.

**36 - Laugh**

Darcy makes Bruce laugh every chance that she gets in the hopes that one day his laugh lines will outnumber all of the rest.

**37 - Lies**

There are no lies between them; they both know how extremely dangerous a seemingly-harmless lie can be.

**38 - Forever**

"Forever's a really long time."

"Not chickening out on me are ya Doc?"

"Just making sure you know what you're in for."

"Let me assure you that there's no one else that I would rather spend forever with."

**39 - Overwhelmed**

One thing that made Bruce fall even more in love with Darcy is the way that she always seems to appear out of nowhere with a steaming cup of his favorite tea whenever he's starting to feel overwhelmed.

**40 - Whisper**

Darcy loves the way he whispers in her ear when he thinks she's sleeping; but what she loves more is the way he whispers calculations she can never even hope to understand in his sleep.

**41 - Wait**

"What if they're like me?"

"Then we'll still love them just as much. But you know as well as I do that all we can do now is wait."

**42 - Talk**

Bruce loves to listen to Darcy talk; it doesn't matter what she's saying, he just finds her voice to be oddly soothing.

**43 - Search**

When Darcy gets kidnapped while on a grocery run, Bruce stays awake for almost three days straight coordinating the search to find and rescue her.

**44 - Hope**

Bruce loves Darcy's constant hope in humanity and he will never - _never_ \- forgive General Ross for stealing that from her.

**45 - Eclipse**

Darcy forgives Bruce for waking her up in the middle of the night because of the look of almost child-like glee and fascination on his face at the start of the lunar eclipse.

**46 - Gravity**

"Need a little help there?"

"Gravity is such a bitch."

"I'm sure Tony would love to help you with that problem."

"Who said it was a problem?"

**47 - Highway**

Sometimes, when he can tell she's had a replay bad day, he'll borrow one of Tony's simpler cars and just drive them down the highway until she smiles and starts singing along with the radio.

**48 - Unknown**

"Listen to this crap! _'The esteemed Dr. Banner was seen last night in the company of an unknown woman - presumed to be one of Tony Stark's as of yet unidentified former paramours.'_ Unknown my ass! Just because she's a slut who can't be bothered will real research doesn't mean she has to turn me into one!"

**49 - Lock**

When Bruce gets home to find that Darcy has locked herself in their bathroom and taken the key in with her, he knows that something is terribly wrong.

**50 - Breathe**

"Breathe Darcy, just breathe. Everything is going to be okay, I promise."


	4. Thane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thane=Thor/Jane

**01 – Motion**

Jane is in constant motion; when she’s not flitting around her lab, she’s always got some sort of movement going on – knee bouncing, fingers tapping – but she finds herself strangely, comfortably motionless in Thor’s presence.

**02 – Cool**

Jane’s favorite thing about the rain is the cool air and feeling of being wiped clean that follows.

 **03 – Young**  
Sometimes it hits Jane how truly young she must be compared to him.

**04 – Last**

Jane was the last person anyone expected to make any sort of significant scientific discovery, and she will probably be the last person to discover the nine realms anew for many years.

**05 – Wrong**

Jane’s science is almost never wrong, something Thor much appreciates.

**06 – Gentle**

Jane sometimes still finds herself shocked at just how gentle Thor can be.

**07 – One**

“All it would take is but one bite.”

**08 – Thousand**

He has lived for thousands of years – and will probably live a thousand more – and for some reason the thought makes her stomach churn.

**09 – King**

“You don’t need to be King of Asgard in order to make a difference you know.”

**10 – Learn**

With Jane at his side, Thor learns quickly the many strange ways of Midgard.

**11 – Blur**

The hospital is a complete blur, but what is clear as glass is the memory of the way the tiny child fit perfectly in her arms.

**12 – Wait**

“I will wait; for now, he is yours to love, Jane Foster.”

**13 – Change**

It is the Lady Darcy who enlightens him regarding the reason for his Lady Jane’s sudden change in demeanor.

**14 – Command**

Jane is one of the only people on a very short list to whom Thor will willingly relinquish command of a situation to.

**15 – Hold**

Some days, Jane just wants him to hold her and never let go.

**16 – Need**

Thor has never before admitted that he needs someone.

**17 – Vision**

“You are truly a vision to behold on this night.”

**18 – Attention**

Jane appreciates most how he never attempts to compete with her work for her attention.

**19 – Soul**

Jane never took stock in the evolution of a soul until Thor took her to see Yggdrasil for the first time.

**20 – Picture**

Jane still treasures the very first picture Darcy took of Thor to post on facebook.

**21 – Fool**

Thor may play the fool, but Jane knows it is simply the way he processes, throwing people he has not yet decided he trusts off of their guard.

**22 – Mad**

Jane doesn’t see Thor truly mad until one of the SHIELD lab monkeys insults her.

**23 – Child**

Jane had always been an awkward child, something that never really went away, making it thoroughly embarrassing when Darcy manages to wrangle her baby pictures out of her mother in order to show them to Thor.

**24 – Now**

They both tend to live in the now, even if they often find themselves dwelling on the past.

**25 – Shadow**

She finds it comforting to walk in his shadow, especially while in the public eye.

**26 – Goodbye**

“Tis never truly goodbye, for I shall always return to you.”

**27 – Hide**

Jane refuses to hide from anything, a mind of science carrying a warrior’s heart.

**28 – Fortune**

“Fortune indeed smiled upon me the day my father cast me out of Asgard, for she sent me to you.”

**29 – Safe**

When Thor makes his trips to Asgard, Jane doesn’t truly feel safe until he’s back on Earth again.

**30 – Ghost**

Sometimes when Thor falls silent for too long, Jane can read the ghost of his misspent youth in his eyes.

**31 – Book**

Jane makes Thor a booklist to help him acclimate, which soon escalates into the Avengers book club.

**32 – Eye**

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I suppose.”

**33 – Never**

‘Never’ is a word neither of them use; because words like ‘never’ and ‘forever’ lead to broken promises and shattered hearts.

**34 – Sing**

“I don’t sing. Ever.”

**35 – Sudden**

She hates the sudden departures the most, when he leaves on short notice, because those are the ones where the mask slips and he shows just how much he truly hates to leave.

**36 – Stop**

She feels the whole tower stop and stare when Thor subtly and without fanfare slips her a jewelry box at breakfast one morning.

**37 – Time**

To Thor, the time they have been given to share feels like a single grain of sand in the hourglass of time.

**38 – Wash**

She lets the rain heralding his arrival wash away any fears or doubts that may have arisen in his absence.

**39 – Torn**

They are both torn; he between Asgard and Midgard, and she between the world she knows and the man she loves.

**40 – History**

He enjoys regaling her with tales of the histories of the realms.

**41 – Power**

“With great power comes great responsibility.”

“Mortals are surprisingly wise creatures.”

**42 – Bother**

“You could never be a bother Thor.”

**43 – God**

Thor insists that ‘God’ is simply a title, much the same as ‘Doctor’ is on Earth.

**44 – Wall**

He somehow manages to break down every wall she’s ever built around her heart.

**45 – Naked**

“Let’s just spend the day naked.”

**46 – Drive**

It’s Jane’s idea to teach him how to drive.

**47 – Harm**

“No harm shall befall you so long as I still take breath.”

**48 – Precious**

She swears her son will be the most precious thing she ever makes.

**49 – Hunger**

A god’s hunger is not easily sated, but Jane always seems to manage.

**50 – Believe**

As a child, she never believed in anything and refused to go to church with her parents; these days, it’s hard not to believe in all the possibilities.


	5. Star Spangled Key

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Spangled Key=Steve/Dawn
> 
> This pairing came about one day, and I started a fic. A so far incomplete fic to which a few of these sentences actually reference.

**01 – Air**

They both prefer the air in New York, no matter how clean the English countryside smells.

**02 – Apples**

“Irony of all ironies, Captain America is allergic to apples.”

**03 – Beginning**

“You’re beginning to make me paranoid.”

“Only beginning?”

**04 – Bugs**

Steve never had a problem with bugs until Dawn recounted her sister’s troubles with the Order of Taraka.

**05 – Coffee**

It’s an unwritten rule that Steve is not allowed to brew coffee in their apartment.

**06 – Dark**

Growing up in Sunnydale gave Dawn a real reason to be scared of the dark; Steve gave her a reason to leave the light on at night.

**07 – Despair**

“Don’t despair soldier, I’ll save you from the monsters.”

**08 – Doors**

There are no doors in their apartment other than the front entrance; they both prefer the openness.

**09 – Drink**

“Metabolism or not, take the drink Steve.”

**10 – Duty**

“It’s not your job!”

“No, it’s my duty!”

**11 – Earth**

Whenever Dawn goes off on one of her spirited rants about magick and its connection to the Earth, Steve can’t help but smile.

**12 – End**

“At the end of it all you have to remember: we’re only human.”

**13 – Fall**

Steve doesn’t think anything will scare him half as much as she did the first time he saw her fall.

**14 – Fire**

“I may or may not have a thing about fire.”

“Is this a good ‘thing’ or a bad ‘thing’?”

**15 – Flexible**

For a man of his size, Steve is surprisingly flexible.

**16 – Flying**

“It feels like flying!”

**17 – Food**

Steve is one of the only people who will try Dawn’s odd food combinations without cringing.

**18 – Foot**

“Don’t stop on my account, I enjoy watching you stick your foot in your mouth.”

**19 – Grave**

Both of them expected an early grave years ago.

**20 – Green**

“So…you glow?”

“Green, yes. But only to crazy people!”

**21 – Head**

“Goddess you can be so thick-headed sometimes!”

**22 – Hollow**

They were both built from scratch, made hollow and filled by the expectations of others.

**23 – Honor**

“You have something that they don’t.”

“What’s that?”

“Honor.”

**24 – Hope**

Dawn introduces the little girl as Hope, and she manages to crawl up under his ribcage the same way that she did.

**25 – Light**

“There is a light, okay? But you should never be afraid to follow it.”

**26 – Lost**

He was lost in the twenty-first century until he ran into the petite bookstore owner on the crowded London streets.

**27 – Metal**

Dawn can’t help but think that Steve is much like the cool metal of the shield he carries: unbreakable, sturdy, reliable, and immovable.

**28 – New**

“Everything must seem new to you I suppose.”

**29 – Old**

Sometimes, when he’s listening to Dawn and Darcy speaking a mile a minute about ‘tropes’ and ‘memes’ and internet ‘rules’, Steve can’t help but feel old.

**30 – Peace**

They’ve had the war versus peace argument too many times to count, and it always ends the same: with the two of them agreeing to disagree.

**31 – Poison**

“Poison fruit and an evil witch, now the wedding’s perfect!”

**32 – Pretty**

If you ask Steve, pretty doesn’t even begin to describe her.

**33 – Rain**

Rainy days make Dawn oddly reflective, causing her to sit for hours on end until Steve finally tracks her down.

**34 – Regret**

“We all have regrets.”

“Even Captain America?”

“Especially Captain America.”

**35 – Roses**

When an overzealous fan sends Steve a bouquet of roses on valentine’s day, he has to have JARVIS dispose of them because Dawn’s eyes are watering from the strength of her sneezing.

**36 – Secret**

When they first meet, neither of them expects the secret that the other hides.

**37 – Snakes**

“My sister nearly got eaten by a giant snake on multiple occasions, so stop thinking about how irrational my fear is and get it out of here!”

**38 – Snow**

Dawn and Steve could spend hours in the snow acting like the children they never were.

**39 – Solid**

Dawn doesn’t think she’ll ever be able to sleep alone again after spending one night with his solid weight next to her.

**40 – Spring**

“A spring in your step can only mean one of two things sweetheart: either you’ve got very good news, or someone’s about to get the talking to of their lives.”

**41 – Stable**

“Neither of us ever claimed to be very stable.”

**42 – Strange**

Dawn is one of the strangest people he has ever met – and he works on a team of superheroes.

**43 – Summer**

Summer for them means a quaint bookstore in London and picnics in the countryside.

**44 – Taboo**

They both have their taboos; things they will not do and lines they refuse to cross, but they work through whatever problems they may cause.

**45 – Ugly**

“I’ve seen the pre-serum pictures Steve and you were never ugly; in fact, you were kind of cute.”

**46 – War**

Dawn expects the PTSD – Steve fought in a war for Goddess’ sake! – so she makes sure she’s always there to soothe the nightmares.

**47 – Water**

Steve will always have a slight issue with large bodies of water, but Dawn does her best to help him work through it.

**48 – Welcome**

Joyce James Rogers does not receive the most conventional welcome into the world, but her parents expected nothing less.

**49 – Winter**

“Hey, have you guys ever heard of the ‘Winter Soldier’?”

**50 – Wood**

“Bad things happen in the wood; seriously, read a fairytale sometime.”


	6. Soviet Cupcakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soviet Cupcakes=James/Max
> 
> I...have absolutely nothing to say...this just kind of happened...

**01 – First**  
Their first meeting is one that she knows her sister will never let her forget, as embarrassing as it was.

 **02 – Speed**  
He drives a little too fast when they’re on his bike, the speed a little exhilarating for them both, but they haven’t been pulled over yet and Max is decidedly not complaining.

 **03 – Candy**  
With her obsession with sweets, she can’t believe that the only candy he really enjoys so far is old-fashioned salt-water taffy.

 **04 – Game**  
“This…this isn't a game for me.”

 **05 – Nightmare**  
The first time he has a nightmare in her bed, Max just presses herself against his side, making herself as small and unthreatening as possible until he rises to full consciousness.

 **06 – Conscience**  
His conscience is weighed down by so much red he often wonders how she can’t see it.

 **07 – Autumn**  
Max loves Autumn – the smell of warm food carts mixed with the changing of the leaves – and she can’t help the blush that rises on her cheeks when she admits this to him.

 **08 – Trampoline**  
“Wait, you've seriously never been on a trampoline before?”

 **09 – Lake**  
James learns about her aquaphobia after some bike messenger in a hurry knocks her into the lake in the park.

 **10 – Change**  
“I’m not gonna change just ‘cause you and the rest of the world probably think that I should!”

 **11 – Pillow**  
For someone of his bulk and muscle, he makes an awfully comfortable pillow.

 **12 – Freak**  
Max started calling herself a freak years ago, and she doesn’t stop until James tells her otherwise.

 **13 – Bomb**  
“You jumped on top of a fucking bomb?!”

 **14 – Bank**  
After her last trip, it was decided that Max is no longer allowed to go to the bank alone ever again.

 **15 – Whale**  
“I feel like a whale!”  
“Trust me doll, you’re much prettier.”

 **16 – Line**  
Max stares at the little pink lines and nearly throws up again.

 **17 – Connection**  
James is the first person Max has bothered trying to forge a connection with since Caroline forced her way into her life.

 **18 – Trip**  
“Let’s take a trip. Just get out of the city for a while.”

 **19 – Force**  
He loses his temper with her one time, and one time is all it takes after he sees the almost-imperceptible fear in her eyes as she forces herself to back away, pressing against the wall.

 **20 – Scar**  
Max has four scars to his many, but they’re one thing she refuses to talk about.

 **21 – Eggs**  
“I’m out of eggs.”  
“That was your big emergency?”

 **22 – Imagine**  
Sometimes he sits and tries to imagine what life would have been like if he hadn’t fallen, and all he can see is a world without Max.

 **23 – Mood**  
James doesn’t quite comprehend her ever-changing mood, and has trouble keeping up until Darcy explains it to him.

 **24 – Octopus**  
After a trip to the zoo, Max insists that they buy one of the purple stuffed octopus plushies in the gift shop window before they leave.

 **25 – Quit**  
James is waiting for her outside the day she quits, and the emotions roiling on her face has him tempted to burn the place to the ground.

 **26 – Burn**  
He was concerned by the burns at first, but she does so much baking that it’s inevitable that she’s going to burn herself at least two or three times a month.

 **27 – Fight**  
They don’t usually have serious arguments – not the long drawn-out screaming matches or anything – when they fight, it’s over the stupid meaningless details.

 **28 – Found**  
They've both been lost and then found, but it never really counted until they were found by each other.

 **29 – Save**  
“I don’t need you to save me!”

 **30 – Salvage**  
He’s both Bucky and the Soldier, broken memories that don’t quite fit together; but she helps him salvage what parts he can and fits them together.

 **31 – Nothing**  
It takes him a while, but she finally manages to convince him that nothing is going to drive her away.

 **32 – Prize**  
“You do know that I’m not some prize to be won, right?”  
“Yea, but that don’t mean I ain’t gonna fight for you.”

 **33 – Voice**  
On the bad nights, she talks, babbling nonstop until her voice lulls him to sleep.

 **34 – Blue**  
Everyone agrees that her eyes are one of the most gorgeous shades of blue, but no-one can agree on whether she inherited the color from her mother or from her father.

 **35 – Camouflage**  
James lets her get away with wearing it for a month before the camouflage hat finally ‘disappears’ from her collection.

 **36 – Hellion**  
She can be a right hellion some days, but he wouldn't want her any different.

 **37 – Search**  
He could search the world over and still never find anyone quite like her.

 **38 – Lead**  
The first night they spend together, and most nights thereafter, Max takes the lead, proving to him that he doesn’t have to treat her like something fragile.

 **39 – Race**  
“You really want to do this?”  
“You bet I do; or are you scared to lose a race against lil’ ol’ me?”

 **40 – Jail**  
When Max admits to him that she’s spent time in jail before, James is somehow not surprised.

 **41 – Fork**  
“Did you just throw a _fork_ at me?”

 **42 – Kite**  
When summer rolls around, the first thing Max does is take James to the Kite-flying contest in Central Park.

 **43 – Far**  
Department X’s reach is far, and he will never stop worrying about all that that entails.

 **44 – Arrangement**  
That’s all it is at the beginning; an arrangement and understanding between two mostly-responsible adults with loads of built-up sexual tension.

 **45 – Daisy**  
“How about Daisy?”

 **46 – Unfaithful**  
Once James finally talks Max into a real semi-normal relationship, he promptly receives a shovel talk from Darcy explicitly detailing what would happen to him if he’s ever unfaithful to her.

 **47 – Vertigo**  
Occasionally, walking around the highly industrialized areas of New York still give even Max a slight sense of Vertigo, so she doesn’t blame him for not wanting to go into the city much.

 **48 – Yesterday**  
“I want to talk about what happened yesterday.”  
“Yea? Well, I don’t; so just…go away!”

 **49 – Alarm**  
Most mornings, it doesn’t matter if Max manages to sleep through her alarm; James has much more creative means to wake her.

 **50 – Done**  
“Us? This…whatever we are? It’s done!”  
“It can’t be done if it never even started.”


	7. 1-40: Innocence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Neither of them has been innocent since they were children; which is why when Natasha brings home a young girl of about five after a mission to break a child-trafficking ring, he doesn't protest at all."

It's not often that Clint and Natasha get split up on missions anymore, and even more rare is when either of them gets called up for a solo mission without each other or any of their, (still relatively new), teammates as back up. So when Clint stirs in the middle of the night sometime in late November to the soft sounds of Natasha sliding out of bed and getting dressed, he rolls over, stifling a yawn and sitting up.

"Steve?" he asks.

"Fury."

"Delta?"

"Solo. No details yet. Level six." She replies, pulling on boots over her standard SHIELD uniform.

"Handler?"

"Not sure. Probably Hill or Sitwell." She pulls a duffel bag, one of the many she has stashed anywhere they frequent often, out from underneath the bed and stands up straight. She gives him a contemplative look and is about to turn to leave when he reaches out and lightly catches hold of her wrist, tapping out a message on her skin. Her lips twitch up in the barest hint of a smile before she pulls away from his touch, disappearing out the door.

 

* * *

 

 

It's three weeks before he sees her again, reluctantly allowing a frazzled SHIELD medic to put a temporary wrap on a swollen knee instead of waking Bruce at God-knows-how-early in the morning; she looks up when the doors slide open and he steps inside, a single look scaring away the skittish medic. He seats himself on the stool across from her and finished the medic's work in wrapping her knee.

"Can you walk on it?"

"Yes."

"Debrief?"

"Hill took care of it." There's a rustling of sheets behind her on the bed and Clint glances up, past Natasha at the five-year-old girl fast asleep, curled against the red-head's back.

"Her parents are dead."

"I know."

"She's all alone. And she was so frightened and small and–" He grabs one of her Natasha's hands, a thumb smoothing over her knuckles. In this moment, with a wayward child at her back and uncertainty in her eyes, she is more vulnerable than Clint has ever seen her.

"I know, Nat." His voice is a whisper, barely there, but she can see the understanding and promise in his eyes and visibly relaxes, shifting slightly to rest a gentle hand on top of the girl's head.

"Her name is Katerina."

 

* * *

 

 Two days later Clint and Natasha return to the tower after filing what felt like reams of paperwork to find all of their possessions moved into larger, shared quarters, taking up an entire floor of the tower. Neither Avenger says a word; Natasha simply holds Katerina securely in her arms and helps her pick out a permanent bedroom in their new home.

The idea of innocence, the need and the impulse to preserve it, is something that they both understand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, if I write more Avengers or Clintasha, Katerina will definitely be included. Because I love my OCs...most days...  
> Katerina is a Russian name meaning 'Pure', by the way. Symbolism for the win.


	8. 2-17: Belief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Tony doesn't believe in God; if anything, he has a firm belief in Pepper Potts."

Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts is nothing if not flexible. So when Tony draws up plans for each of the Avengers to have their own private space in the Tower, she says nothing. When the four earth-bound heroes finally give in to Tony and take up their living spaces, she adjusts rather quickly. She is grateful to Dr. Banner, a person for Tony to talk to who understands his scientific jargon, as well as an extra set of hands to keep things from exploding and to remind Tony to eat and sleep.

She is pleasantly surprised to find that Natasha and Clint make rather good confidants, helping to plot all of the ways for her to…circumvent to Stark Industries board; usually over drinks while she and Natasha, whose time as Natalie Rushman paid off, complete in minutes paperwork that normally would have taken her hours. She quickly learns that Steve and Tony arguing (again) is not a sign of the apocalypse. Rather, it’s a good thing; Steve doesn’t take any of Tony’s bullshit and Tony doesn’t tiptoe around Steve like so many others, especially civilians, tend to do. In fact, the majority of the time, she finds their heated conversations amusing to watch and listen to.

Pepper remembers one argument in particular, around Easter, that she had JARVIS commit to a permanent voice-lock memory file. She had gone down to the lab to get Tony to sign some papers and had walked into the middle of it, both of them oblivious to her presence.

“…believe in God at all?” Steve was asking

“I’m a scientific mind Cap. I believe in the tangible, proven facts. None of which describe ‘God’.” Tony replied, “And seeing what you’ve seen, I don’t know how you can believe it either.”

“I was raised Catholic,” Steve pointed out.

“But you lived through a war. You saw the greatest horrors that humanity has to offer.”

“And I and so many others lived to talk about it. You know Thor for Pete’s sake!”

“Alien! Not a God! Early civilizations called him a deity because they just didn’t know any better.” Steve sighed audibly and Pepper smiled.

“Fine, if you don’t believe in God, what do you believe in?”

“Science,” Tony replied in that ‘isn’t-it-obvious’ tone Pepper was so used to. “Wait, no. Not science. Well, yes science, but people too. But not all people. People who get stuff done, people like Pepper.” Tony snapped his fingers. “There’s your answer Cap. I believe in Pepper Potts.” Pepper smiles and cleared her throat, alerting the two to her presence and making them forget their conversation as she handed Tony the Stark tablet with the necessary papers drawn up. She doesn’t know if Tony remembers the conversation, but she makes sure to tell him just how much _she_ believes in _him_ every chance that she gets.


	9. 1-02: Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their first kiss is heated and passionate and meaningless, a last-ditch effort to hide in plain sight while running from the policie in Prague; but every kiss after carries its own unique message.

They're both short of breath and miles from their extraction point when Natasha stops short, pulling Clint into a secluded alcove. Clint peers around her, ducking his head at the sound of shouting.

"Are they gonna chase us through the whole damn city?" he wonders aloud.

"That appears to be their plan. Give me your jacket," she orders, squatting down and scooping up a handful of mud. Clint gives her a questioning look but does as he's told, stripping off his leather jacket as she rubs the mud through his dirty blonde hair, darkening it further.

She wipes her hands on his jeans before reaching out and pulling his jacket on over her dress. She swipes a thumb across her lips and then rubs it over one of his cheeks, smearing her red lipstick on his face. One of her hands comes to rest at the back of his neck and the next thing Clint knows, she's pulling him down and capturing his lips with her own.

He freezes for barely a heartbeat before responding in kind, an arm wrapping around her waist to draw her closer to him, his free hand coming up to curl around the back of her neck, lips parting to slide his tongue against her teeth. She sighs into his mouth, arms sliding over his shoulders as she jumps up to wrap her legs around his waist.

Clint steps away from the wall, turning and flipping their positions so that he was pressing her back up against it, trapping her between his body and the concrete. He unraveled his arm from around her waist, using his own weight to keep her in place, leaving his hands free to frame her face, tangling in her hair, dyed brunette-almost-blonde for this mission, as her fingernails scrape lightly at the back of his neck, hips jerking up against his when his teeth sink into her bottom lip.

 _"Hej, ty!"_ They break apart at the sound, Natasha burying her face in the side of Clint's neck nearest the wall, away from the police officer shining his flashlight on them. Clint turns his head slightly to get a better look, hands moving to lie flat against the wall on either side of his partner, supporting both of their weights better and further shielding her from view as her arms slip from around his neck to curl up under his shoulders and clutch the back of his shirt.

 _"Problém důstojník?"_ He asks, accent rough from disuse as Natasha's hips move in slow circles, putting on a show.

 _"Přesunout uvnitř. Je to nebezpečné v noci."_ The officer orders cautiously.

 _"Samozřejmě důstojník,"_ he manages to reply, one hand sliding down to still Natasha's distracting hips, _"Prostě jsme se trochu ... unést."_ Her legs release their grip on his waist and she purposefully slides to her feet, face still buried against his neck. The officer's eyes travel the length of Natasha's legs, exposed by the thigh-high slit in her dress.

 _"Pochopitelné,"_ he leers, lowering the light, _"ale možná vaše paní se mohou těšit na více soukromých místo."_ Clint lowers his hands, stepping back from the wall and tucking Natasha into his side.

 _"Jsem si jistý, že to udělá,"_ he leers back, _"Dobrou noc důstojník."_ The officer nods curtly before turning and running back the way he had come.

"This is Black Widow; Hawkeye and I are ready for pickup; requesting a new extraction point."

 

* * *

 

 

Their next kiss happens months later, because of Budapest. Because she took a bullet for him and when he asked her why, Natasha couldn't find the words to articulate. So she showed him instead, using her lips on his to communicate something they both had already known.

From then on for them, the most chaste of kisses carries the most important of words between them. A kiss on the forehead says _'be careful'_ , a kiss on the knuckles means _'I'm glad you're safe'_ , a kiss on the neck or shoulder conveys promises usually whispered between the sheets; he kisses along her ankles and legs, telling without words just how deeply he feels for her; her lips ghost across his hands and his ears, gentle assurances that she will never let go. Their kisses are admittedly rare, and never in view of prying eyes or cameras, but that just makes the message that each one carries all the more special.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Czech translations:
> 
> Hej, ty! - Hey, you!
> 
> Problém důstojník? - Problem officer?
> 
> Přesunout uvnitř. Je to nebezpečné v noci. - Move inside. It's dangerous out at night.
> 
> Samozřejmě důstojník - Of course officer.
> 
> Prostě jsme se trochu ... unést. - We simply got a little…carried away.
> 
> Pochopitelné, ale možná vaše paní se mohou těšit na více soukromých místo. - Understandable, but perhaps your lady might enjoy a more private venue.
> 
> Jsem si jistý, že to udělá - I'm sure that she would
> 
> Dobrou noc důstojník. - Goodnight officer.


	10. 2-10: Weddings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "It's at the top of the list of affairs that both Pepper and Tony actively try to avoid; not because neither of them has thought about it, (they have, extensively), but because they both know that it would paint an even bigger target on Pepper's back."

"You got another invitation in the mail," Pepper remarks from the doorway.

"How many benefits are you going to make me go to this year Pep?" is Tony's response as he continues working on whatever project it is that's caught his attention today. "Because donating to charity is fine, but I swear sometimes it's like I'm single-handedly supporting them."

"It isn't for a benefit Tony," Pepper informs him before he starts talking again. Something in Pepper's voice catches his attention though, and Tony looks up from the circuit-board that he had been working on. He studies her face a moment, carefully impassive, before catching sight of an almost familiar-looking crème-colored envelope.

"Who it is this time?"

" 'You have been cordially invited to witness the nuptials of Reed Richards and Susan Storm.' " She quotes from the card.

"Didn't they already get hitched?"

"Their last ceremony was interrupted before Sue even made it down the aisle."

"So this is attempt number, what? Six now?"

"Seven, I think."

"Send a gift and an RSVP of 'no'," Tony decides, "Richards and I don't get along well anyway it's really more of a courtesy invitation anyway."

"I figured as much anyway," Pepper remarks wryly. Tony turns back to the circuit-board, glancing up after a moment to find Pepper staring almost wistfully at the envelope in her hand.

"Pepper?" She looks up from the envelope, Tony's voice startling her from her thoughts. "You don't want to-" he glances at the envelope, "-do you?"

"What? No. Tony we've already discussed his and as much as I love you, you're right. Being CEO of Stark Industries put me on the radar, and having a public relationship with 'Iron Man' drew focus to me; but us getting engaged or married would be like lighting a flare for every enemy the Avengers may ever have."

"We could. I you really wanted to," he suggests after a moment of silence.

"Maybe when things calm down. For now, I'm happy with what we have. Really, Tony," she insists before he can protest.

It's a conversation that they've had a few dozen times before, and it always ends with the same conclusion. Because as much as they want to make a big deal and get married like normal people, they aren't normal people. And Tony would never forgive himself if some selfish desire to claim Pepper as his caused her to be put directly in the line of fire of some fight that she probably otherwise would never be involved in...again.


	11. 1-48: Waves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "The both of them will always remember the beach in Sri Lanka, where the waves carried away the bathing suit that she wasn’t using anyway but still made him pay for."
> 
> In which the rating comes into play.

He finds her standing on the deserted beach after he calls for the clean-up crew and the extraction team. She’s still dressed in her bikini and matching sarong, her toes buried in the damp sand.

“Nat?” he calls softly; she’s always a little bit twitchy, a little more aware and paranoid after finishing a job. The transition from assassin to agent isn’t as difficult as the one from assassin to civilian, from the Widow to Natasha. He experiences the same difficulty when transitioning from Hawkeye to Clint. It’s an unnatural adjustment to have to make.

Natasha glances over her shoulder at him in acknowledgement, and he can tell that she is more Natasha and Agent Romanoff than she is the Widow right now.

“Extraction will be here with the clean-up crew in fifteen,” he informs her, waling up to stand behind her on the sand. Her only response is a sharp nod, curling her toes.

“You know,” he begins after a few moments of silence, “I can’t remember the last time wither of us took a day off.” She doesn't reply, so Clint keeps talking. “I know I have a shit-ton of saved vacation days; I haven’t taken a day off since before  São Paulo.”

“I wasn't aware that we had vacation days,” she replies finally, speaking slowly. He stares at her a moment.

“You’re kidding, right?” her silence is answer enough. “In the four years that you have been with SHIELD, you haven’t taken a single day off?”

”We’re assassins, Clint.”

“We’re government employees,” he corrects gently, coming to stand beside her. They stand in silence until they hear the sound of whirring helicopter blades mixing with the sound of the rushing waves.

“If we were normal people,” Natasha starts, hesitating, “if we were normal, I could see us vacationing in a place like this.” She turns to face him, more Natasha than Agent Romanoff, no trace of the Widow in her eyes. “But we’re not normal.” Clint smiles wolfishly, pulling two civilian passports from a pocket in his cargo shorts.

“We could be.” She steps towards him, pulling the passports from his grasp.

 _“Hawkeye, Widow, report: what is your status and location?”_ Coulson’s voice buzzes over their comms. Clint catches Natasha’s eyes and, upon finding no trace of either the agent or the assassin, wraps an arm around her waist.

“This is Hawkeye; status is green. Location is NTK,” he can hear Coulson sigh on the other end, “Widow and I are going to ground.”

_“Do you have a time frame?”_

“Take it out of our vacation time sir,” he states, pulling the bud from Natasha’s ear, “we’ll be in touch.” He pulls out his own, stepping on both earpieces before Coulson can reply again;  he tugs Natasha closer and kisses her, a hand tugging at the strings of her bikini as she slips the passports into his back pocket, letting him walk them backwards to the edge of the water.

She manages to get his pants off just as the waves start lapping at their ankles, and he keeps walking until they’re waist-deep in the ocean before he pulls apart the strings keeping together the bottom of her bikini. He sinks to his knees, bringing the water to their necks and shoulders, and slides home inside of her in one move, her legs twining around his waist. She buries her forehead in his neck as he starts to move, slow, sure strokes that rock her to her core.

“I…liked that suit,” she gasps, one eye tracking the shiny fabric being carried off in the distance.

“You weren't using it,” he groans.

“From my private collection,” she bites out, breath hitching in her throat as he hits a particularly sensitive spot at just the right angle. He picks up speed at the sound, thrusting home until she tenses, clenching around him.

“I’ll replace it,” he promises, silencing her next response with a kiss. “ _After_ , our vacation.” She can’t help but agree as he kisses her again; but after their vacation, she refuses to speak with him outside of missions for the five weeks it takes him to replace the three-hundred dollar designer suit he peeled off of her in the water that day.


	12. 3-10: Drink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After her first week of working as lab assistant in Avenger's Tower, Darcy drags Dr. Banner out of the lab and buys him what she considers a well-deserved drink.

_Monday:_

Darcy covers her ears in an attempt to block out Jane's excited squeal the moment the lab doors slide open; six o'clock on a Monday morning is way too early to be dealing with this.

"Jane," she tries, "Jane! You're speaking science at me and the machines again and it's making my brain hurt, so cut it out!" Jane gives her an apologetic look.

"But Darcy, look at all this equipment!" Darcy does as she's told, glancing around their new lab space.

"Is all of this new?"

"New and never-before-used," a voice behind the two women confirms, "Dr. Foster, pleasure to see you again," Tony Stark greets, "Lewis."

"Stark," Darcy greets evenly, "how's the quest for the perfect pop tart toaster?"

"On-going. Anyway, this is Dr. Foster's lab; mine is at basement-level, purely for safety reasons-"

"A.K.A. Pepper said so," Darcy interjects.

"-And Dr. Banner is just down the hall from you."

"Dr. Banner?" Darcy can't help but look at Jane, a now-excited look on the scientist's face. "As in Dr. Bruce Banner?"

"You've heard of him then?"

"I've read some of his studies in gamma radiation in the hopes that they may help turn my theory into practice," Jane explains, "it'll be great to actually have his input."

"Gamma radiation," Darcy interrupts before the science talk gets going full-swing, "isn't that stuff like really, really dangerous?"

"In large amounts and if handled improperly, yes," a new voice answers her question.

"Bruce! Just the man we were talking about," Tony says by way of introduction, "Dr. Foster here would like your input on a project of hers." The man in the doorway is wearing a button up shirt and a pair of slacks with leather shoes, and Darcy could tell under the shirt he was hiding serious abs.

"Dr. Jane Foster?" The man asks, shaking Jane's hand. "Dr. Selvig speaks very highly of you."

"You've spoken with Erik?"

"Before he left with Director Fury, yes. He showed me some of your work. It was quite impressive, to say the least." Jane looks from Darcy to Dr. Banner, excitement written all over her face.

"You've actually read my theories?"

"A few of them, yes. They're very well organized." Darcy can't help the snort that escapes her at that, causing all three scientists in the room to look at her.

"Sorry, but, Jane can't organize to save her life. You should have seen what the lab back in New Mexico looked like before she hired me."

"It's true," Jane admits. "I probably wouldn't have gotten anywhere with any of my grants or projects if I hadn't had Darcy; she's a paperwork ninja."

"How do you think I got into freakin' Stanford?" Darcy asks dryly, "I'm a beast at scholarships."

"Interesting," Tony muses.

"What?" Darcy asks suspiciously, "I don't like that look on your face..."

 

_Tuesday:_

"...glorified secretary to Tony fucking Stark," Darcy grumbles, setting the coffee carrier down on Jane's new desk. "Were you here all night?" Darcy asks Jane, who is scribbling on one of the white-boards set up around the room.

"I guess so," the other woman confirms absent-mindedly. "Dr. Banner's input was really helpful. I wanted to get everything down while it was still fresh in my mind."

"Of course you did," Darcy sighs, prying the marker from the scientist's hand and replacing it with a hot coffee, (loaded with vanilla and sugar), before setting a pastry down on the table near Jane's elbow. "Finish your coffee, eat your sugary goodness, finish this equation - or the board, whichever comes first - and then take a twenty minute power nap." Jane frowns. "It'll help you think clearer." Darcy sing-songs.

"Fine," Jane promises, draining her coffee.

"Great! I'm going to go check in with Tony." Darcy informs her former-kind-of-current boss; grabbing the coffee carrier, she glides out of the door...and nearly runs straight into their other resident scientist, Dr. Banner.

"So sorry," she apologizes, quickly righting the thankfully not-spilled coffee cups.

“It’s fine," he assures her quickly, voice quiet. "I just wanted to stop by and see if Dr. Foster had managed any progress."

"I guess so. She's mid-cycle, so we won't really know if this equation or theory or whatever is actually worth anything until maybe tomorrow or Thursday." She informs him, making her way to the elevator

"Mid-cycle?" Dr. Banner asks, following her onto the elevator.

"Yea. Jane has this cycle," she starts to explain, hitting the button for basement-level.

"She'll start a new project or equation or something, and get so engrossed shell pull an all-nighter. She won't even realize it until I bring her sugary coffee and breakfast foods the next morning. I make her promise to take a twenty minute power nap, she sleeps for ten to fifteen minutes, repeat as needed until equation is finished."

"Sounds very high-maintenance," he notes with amusement.

"It's actually kind of like babysitting," Darcy admits, "and I am one badass babysitter." The elevator doors open, followed by a stream of fire-extinguisher foam that has Darcy shrieking in surprise.

"Dummy no!" Darcy grits her teeth, using one hand to wipe foam off of her glasses.

"Now this? This is going to be high maintenance."

 

_Wednesday:_

When Darcy gets on the elevator at the ground floor the next morning, there is already someone else inside: a familiar-looking redhead in a navy blue pantsuit, talking on her cell phone.

"Don't you dare hang up on me Tony! Whether or not you're the CEO anymore, you have to be at this meeting. I'm on my way down, so you had better be ready when I get there!" The redhead hangs up and Darcy smiles at her.

"Let me guess: you're the infamous Pepper Potts?"

"How'd you know?" She admits wryly; Darcy holds out a hand for her to shake.

"I'm Darcy Lewis."

"Dr. Foster's intern?"

"The one and only. Less intern now and more Tony Stark and company's glorified babysitter."

"Tony hired you?"

"Jerk conned me into it really," Darcy sighs melodramatically as the elevator doors open, (with no foam in sight this time much to Darcy's relief), "Jane let slip about my mad paperwork ninja skills, then Tony said I had to prove it, and here we are." She follows Pepper out of the elevator into Tony's workshop.

"Sounds like Tony alright. Speaking of which, JARVIS, where is Tony?"

" _Sir has taken the liberty of testing the new Mark IX armour, Miss Potts,_ " a distinctly British voice responds, " _Apparently there were civilian sightings of strange objects on Cony Island._ "

"Of course there were. And seeing as how I can't show up to this meeting without him," she turns to Darcy, "have you met Agent Romanoff yet?"

"Who?" Pepper smiles.

"Allow me to teach you how to make Tony's life miserable. JARVIS, contact Natasha and ask her if she's free to meet for lunch." Darcy grins; this week was definitely looking up.

 

_Thursday:_

"Darcy!" Darcy's head snapped up from her computer screen and she leaned around the monitor.

"What is it Jane?"

"I think I got it!" Darcy stands up and walks over to where Jane is sitting in front of an equation spanning three and a half white boards.

"Think it's gonna work?"

"There's really only one way to find out," Jane answers, pushing her glasses up to rest on top of her head. "I'll have to ask Mr. Stark-"

"Tony."

"-for a few things, but I should be able to have the machine built and calibrations input by next Wednesday. Tuesday if I start now."

"Wednesday it is then."

"Darcy!"

"Jane it's six a.m. and you haven't slept for an interval longer than thirty minutes since Sunday night," Darcy informs her friend sternly. "I am not letting you near any delicate and/or dangerous equipment until you have at least four solid hours. Now-" Darcy is cut off by the floor shaking.

"What was that?" Jane asks for the both of them.

" _There has been a small incident in Sir's workshop involving Sir and Dr. Banner,_ " JARVIS answers, startling Jane and reminding Darcy that the other woman hasn't been introduced to the AI. " _It is recommended that you remain here for your own safety until the situation is resolved._ "

"Does this mean we're not allowed downstairs?" Darcy guesses as the floor shakes again.

" _Sir has requested that the elevator be put offline until further notice._ "

"Great. We're stuck here. Is there at least footage of what the hell is happening?" In answer, a holographic display opens on one of the empty clear boards, showing the two women in real-time what was going on downstairs. Tony, in full Iron Man armour, is facing off against a giant green...thing...that Darcy vaguely recognizes from the invasion almost three months ago.

"What the hell...?" Jane breathes, trying to keep track of both figures on the screen.  
" _Sir wished to test the durability of the Mark XI against the destructive capability of one such as the Hulk._ "

"What does that have to do with Dr. Banner?"

"Darcy, didn't you read the personnel files SHIELD gave us when we agreed to work out of Stark Tower?"

"When you agreed to work out of Avengers Tower," Darcy corrects, "and was I supposed to?" Jane sighs.

"It would have been helpful. Computer, can you-"

"His name is JARVIS," Darcy interrupts.

"Sorry. JARVIS, would you pull up Dr. Banner's SHIELD file please?"

" _Of course Dr. Foster._ " a second, smaller screen opens next to the video feed and Darcy pulls her desk chair over, putting her glasses on to read.

 

_Friday:_

Darcy wakes up early Friday morning, arriving at the tower at three a.m. She walks into Jane's lab, passes Jane dozing on the couch, and heads straight for the secret stash of herbal tea leaves in her desk. She scoops at least a week's worth into a small plastic ziploc she had hidden in her pocket before re-sealing the bag and hiding the tea again.

Darcy stands up straight, exiting Jane's lab and walking down the hall to Dr. Banner's. The door slides open and she freezes, surprised to find the doctor sitting at a microscope with a notepad at his elbow. He looks up at the sound of the door closing and Darcy exhales a breath she hadn't realized that she had been holding.

"I guess Jane and Tony aren't the only scientists around here with irregular sleep patterns." She jokes; Dr. Banner looks down at his watch and then back up at her, slight surprise written on his face.

"I guess not," he agrees, turning off the microscope and throwing whatever culture he had been studying into the bio-hazardous waste bin at his feet. "Is there something I can help you with Ms. Lewis?"

"No. Wait, yes. Both?" She steps closer to him. "I-um, well, I noticed you don't drink coffee so I, well, here." She places the sealed ziploc on top of his notepad and takes a quick step back. "It's herbal tea. My grandmother sends me a new blend once a month and it's really soothing, and working with Tony I figure could make anyone need a little time to relax. I mean, I was just gonna drop it off, but since you're here..." Darcy turns, fleeing the lab before she has a chance to embarrass herself further.

The rest of her day is spent babying Jane until the available Avengers are called to an emergency involving Dr. Doom and some leftover Chitauri tech. Then it's spent curled up on the sofa with her laptop watching the live news broadcast if the fight.

 

_Saturday:_

Darcy walks into Jane's lab and finds it suspiciously empty.

"JARVIS?"

" _Yes Ms. Lewis?_ "

"Where is everyone?"

" _Doctors Foster and Banner are in the basement-level workshop with Sir._ "

"What are they doing in the workshop?" She asks on her way to the elevator.

" _I believe that they are working on Dr. Foster's Einstein-Rosen Bridge equation._ "

"Anything we need to warn the rest of the tower about?"

" _I do not believe so. Shall I warn them of your arrival?_ "

"Nah. Tony's being productive. I fed Jane last night and left a box of pop-tarts on her desk that aren't there anymore, and I don't know about Dr. Banner but he doesn't seem to be in any danger," Darcy muses. "Let's not interrupt them."

" _Very good miss._ " Darcy spends the rest of the elevator ride in silence; silence that is immediately broken by the muted sounds of AC/DC as soon as the doors slide open. Jane and Tony are sitting at a holodesk, inputting equations and discussing what looks like a set of unfinished schematics or blueprints. The first thing she notices, however, is Dr. Banner sitting alone at a separate holodesk, and how tired he looks, deep circles under his eyes as he works on a project of his own.

No sooner had the thought crossed Darcy's mind when Tony finally notices she's there, and she finds herself caught up in a whirlwind of science, coffee, and sugar.

 

* * *

  

Darcy is startled awake by flashing lights and a blaring alarm. She looks around quickly to reassure herself that she is still on the couch in Tony's workshop where she fell asleep.

"What the-?" She scoops her hair into a quick, messy ponytail. "JARVIS, what's going on? Where are Jane, Tony, and Dr. Banner?" She receives no answer. "JARVIS? Shit." She scrambles off of the couch and over to the panel that Tony had shown her on her first day, opening it and taking one of the comm.-units, popping it into one of her ears.

"Hello?" She asks tentatively.

" _Darcy?_ " Tony responds immediately. " _Where are you?_ "

"Still in your workshop. What the hell is going on? And what's wrong with JARVIS?"

" _Obviously there's been a security breach; and what do you mean 'what's wrong with JARVIS?'_ "

"I mean that JARVIS isn't responding to me. And obviously what I want to know is who or what caused the damn security breach."

" _Stark, the labs and R and D floors are secure, and all of the lowers levels are on lockdown._ " Natasha's voice interjects.

" _Good to know. Darcy, JARVIS is up and running. I'm having him open the security feeds for you. Let me know what you see._ "

"Where are you?" she asks, sitting down in front of the feeds.

" _Jane, Bruce, and I moved to one of my private testing facilities because I was told by Pepper to refrain from blowing up the tower...again._ "

"So it's just me, Natasha, and any staff you left behind." Her eyes catch something on one of the feeds. "Hold up...the underground car park. There are people."

" _Below you or above you Darcy?_ "

"There's a car park under here?"

" _JARVIS is running the facial recognition program now._ "

" _Sir, I do not believe that is necessary. Judging by their uniforms, the men are army forces._ "

"Army? What did you do to piss them off now Tony?"

" _Which branch?_ " Natasha asks the AI before Tony can reply.

" _The emblem is not recorded in my database._ "

" _Let me see the feed here JARVIS._ " Tony orders. To Darcy's surprise, however, Tony is not the one who speaks next; Dr. Banner is.

" _Those are Hulkbusters._ "

"Hulkbusters?" Darcy wonders aloud over Natasha's muttered curses.

" _Probably looking for me._ "

" _Well,_ " Tony huffs, " _I say we show them what a spectacularly bad idea that is._ "

" _For once Tony, you and I are in complete agreement._ " Natasha comments. Darcy watches with a feeling of what can only be described as satisfaction as Natasha single-handedly takes down all of the intruders; all thirty of them.

 

_Sunday:_

The one thing Bruce does not expect to find when he answers the door to his private rooms in the Tower is Darcy Lewis standing in the hallway. She's dressed no differently than usual; a pair of form-fitting jeans and a loose sweater that hugs just the right places, boots on her feet and hair in a ponytail, a heavy coat draped over one arm.

"Grab a coat doc," she orders the moment he opens the door.

"Did we have an appointment Ms. Lewis?"

"Nope, but with a week like you've had, you deserve a drink," she states matter-of-factly, "lucky for you, it's happy hour at my favorite bar and I'm buying. So grab your coat."

"Ms. Lewis-"

"Darcy," she corrects automatically.

"Darcy," he acquiesces "I appreciate the offer," she raises an eyebrow at him , "but alcohol and I are probably not the best idea."

"One drink is hardly going to cause an international incident," she scoffs, "now grab your coat and let’s go!" He hesitates a minute before grabbing his own jacket off of the coat-hook by the door and shrugging it on. Later, watching his lips curve up in a relaxed smile while he nurses a glass of whiskey, Darcy can't help but think that dragging Dr. Banner out for drinks was one of the best ideas she's had so far.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally supposed to be a short drabble meant to take place at the end of a week in the life of Darcy.  
> Instead it ended up as this 2,826 word monstrosity.


	13. 1-12: Sensual

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha is a master with knives; but she quickly learns exactly how sensual it is to watch Clint work.

Natasha has worked with knives since childhood. She has learned how to kill with them, how to use them for something from as mundane as cooking, to anything as extreme as diffusing a bomb.

The most important lessons she learned with knives, however, were the long hours spent with the Red Room's torture and interrogation specialist, the man who was in charge of training them to withstand the worst forms of physical and psychological tortures. It wasn't until she was older, when he started teaching them to wield the tools of the trade themselves, using the other girls, the weaker ones who couldn't make the cut, to practice on, that she learned how a knife could be used as more than just a tool for pain. As the Black Widow, the best the Red Room had to offer, she was taught to use all weaponry as an extension of her body. Knives quickly became a personal favorite.

It wasn't until she joined SHIELD and started forming a sort of connection with Agent Barton that she began to understand the appeal herself. Shortly after she was taken off of twenty-four hour surveillance and given a room on the helicarrier, she took it upon herself to explore her surroundings. After mapping out the hallways, she manages to find her way down to the range, seemingly-empty save the familiar *thunk* of a projectile meeting its target.

Letting her curiosity get the best of her, Natasha follows the sound to the end of the range, where she finds none other than Agent Barton himself. There is near-empty knife table next to him; currently he has two in hand, a stiletto blade and a weighted throwing knife, and as she watches he throws both, one with each hand, and each of them lands in the center of the human-sequence target's head; kill-shots. She surveys the scene before her: there are dozens of targets set up, all of them almost completely destroyed by knives of all shapes and sizes and metals. He throws the last few knives on the table, (kill-shots every one of them), before turning and acknowledging her presence.

"Romanova."

"It's Romanoff now," she corrects coolly, the bastardized anglicization of her surname rolling off of her tongue with ease as he walks towards the targets.

"Is it now?" He grins, his hands easily pulling four of the blades out of their targets. "And was that your idea or Spec Ops'?"

"It just seemed the logical choice," she deflects, watching him carry the knives four at a time back to the table. Once all of the blades are collected, he seats himself at the table and starts going over each knife carefully, inspecting the blade for nicks and cleaning the sharp, dark metal carefully before sliding it into its sheath. The entire time, her eyes never leave his hands, enraptured by the way he caresses each one.

"I thought you were strictly a bow and arrow type?"

"What can I say? When you're a sideshow, you learn to have multiple talents."

Natasha catches herself smiling despite herself, and is quick to hide it, excusing herself and leaving the range, Clint smirking knowingly at her departing figure.


	14. 2-40: Solitary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony hates crowds, having been thrust into them too many times as a child, but he hates being solitary so much more since Afghanistan; Pepper will always be plenty enough to ease his tension.

She finds him loitering on one of the empty second story balconies. His tie has been loosened and there's a watered-down whiskey in his hand.

"Tony?" She calls quietly, closing the sliding door behind her. "Some of the investors were looking for you. How long have you been out here?"

"Maybe twenty minutes," he replies absent-mindedly, staring at his almost empty glass. "You know my mom used to love these things. She loved hosting them of course, because it was an excuse to spend dad's money, but I think she enjoyed sticking me in a monkey suit and parading me around the most. Dad didn't care so long as I stayed quiet and out of the way while he did his schmoozing." He tosses back the last of his drink, leaving the empty glass sitting on the railing.

"Are you okay Tony?"

"Yea. Let's go. The vultures await!" He turns to head back inside, but Pepper lays a hand on his arm.

"If you want to be alone I can-"

"No. It's fine Pep; I'm fine." She brings a hand up to his cheek, turning his face to here and searching his eyes.

"Let's go home," she decides, "we've been seen by plenty of people and got our photos taken by the press. The vultures know how to get in touch with me." The uneasiness drains from his eyes and Pepper smiles, hand sliding down his arm to grasp his fingers as they walk back inside towards the coat-check. These are the times when Tony is glad that Pepper has the ability to see right through him; because she understands more than anyone that sometimes it's better to be alone together than to be alone in a crowded room.


	15. 3-23: Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What makes Bruce lose control and Hulk out isn't the inexperienced lab technician knocking over the burner; it's the sound of Darcy's scream at the sight of the spreading fire.

It's a seemingly normal day in the lab when it happens, when Bruce hulks out on accident for the first time since the Chitauri invasion. Jane is at a conference in DC with Thor and a SHIELD shadow for extra protection, and Pepper dragged Tony to a meeting with some interested investors, so Darcy is stuck in Bruce's lab for the day. Not that either of them was complaining.

Darcy was one of the most competent assistant he had ever met; which was saying a lot, especially when taking into consideration the fact that she had only the most rudimentary understanding of any of the sciences. But she knew lab safety, kept everything filed and organized, and, after almost a year of working with Jane, was able to assist any of the scientists in the building on any number of experiments. Add that to the fact that she pretty much terrifies all of the lab technicians employed by Stark Industries, Darcy was fairly confident in her ability to supervise any of the projects that Tony, Jane, or Bruce assigned her to.

Until one of the newest 'highly qualified' lab technicians forgot to turn off the gas to one of the burners before removing the sample he was heating. Several things happen in quick succession: first, the sleeve of his lab coat catches the flame, followed by his startled curse as he drops the sample, causing Darcy to look at him, and then his flailing attempt to put out the fabric on his arm caused him to knock the burner over, right into a nearby shelf of flammable chemicals. The bottles holding the chemicals break with loud _pops_ , and Darcy lets out an involuntary scream as the lab table is engulfed with flames.

Bruce walks into the lab just in time to hear the _pop_ of exploding beakers, and to his credit only jumps a little, managing to keep the Other Guy relatively calm as his head snaps up from the StarkPad he had been reading data off of. That relative calm is broken by Darcy's terrified scream, and he turns his head just in time to see her legs collapse underneath her as she crawls away, panic written on her face.

He barely manages to yell a warning at the incompetent lab tech before the Other Guy is pushing to the forefront, _**Darcy hurt**_ one of the last clear thoughts to pass through his mind.

Darcy feels her legs turn to jello beneath her, and barely manages to control her fall, before turning onto her hands and knees and crawling as far away from the uncontrollable flames as she can get. She slides under a desk, pulling her knees up to her chest and covering her head with her arms. She squeezes her eyes shut, a familiar voice yelling registering somewhere in the rational part of her mind. A rush of air against her face has her looking up to find the Hulk lifting the desk up and away from her.

" **Darcy hurt?** "

"N-no," she manages to stutter, her voice barely a whisper, "Not hurt."

" **Darcy hide.** " She nods, noting in the corner of her eye that the lab tech has returned with a group of emergency response personnel, who have started putting out the flames. She flinches slightly when Hulk suddenly sits down next to her. " **Hulk make Darcy safe.** " Darcy instinctively leans against his leg, closing her eyes and trying to stop her shaking, to breathe normally. Being calm around the Hulk is one of the best ways to get him back to normal as quickly as possible. Hulk growls, and Darcy opens her eyes to see the clumsy lab tech and two medical personnel backing away with their hands raised in order to be as non- threatening as possible.

"Are you hurt?" One of them asks. Darcy shakes her head 'no', and all three of them walk away. She turns back to the Hulk, who is still growling in the direction the men had retreated in.

"Darcy's not hurt," she soothes, "and Darcy's very safe now." Hulk hunches further over her, his face contorting in a mixture of what appears to be confusion and pain; his skin ripples, and minutes later, it's Bruce hunched over her form, ripped pants still clinging to his waist.

"I - uh - sorry," he stammers an apology.

"Not your fault," she whispers, placing a shaking hand on his arm, "Hulk doesn't like surprises."

"You're scared," he comments, eyes drifting to the shaking hand on his arm, "I should - I should go -,"

"Not scared of you doc, promise," she chuckles, "I - My parents and I - there was a really bad accident when I was seven." She takes a deep breath, "my parents got thrown from the car and were killed instantly; I was stuck in the backseat. Car lit up like a Roman candle." His arms relax, falling around her shoulders and pulling her into his chest. Darcy closes her eyes and wraps her arms around his waist. Bruce makes a point not to mention the tears making tracks down his bare chest.

Later that week he finds a full canister of tea leaves with a blank 'thank you' card attached.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so mean to the characters I write about...


	16. 1-16:Weakness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They both have their weaknesses; little things not written in their files, things that only the other know, and that's the way it's going to stay.

Not even SHIELD knows about Clint's hearing; after it happened, when she noticed his reaction times had slowed slightly during sparring, or that he was slower to realize her approach, she forced him to let her take him to an off-books doctor to get the nearly-invisible hearing aids he now wears.

When he first realizes that she has allergies, they're in the middle of a communication blackout on a mission in France, his French barely passable, and he has to steal an epi-pen from a local pharmacy in the middle of the night after she eats a few fresh blueberries he found in the forest on the outskirts of the small village the op had taken place in. After the op, they go dark for three weeks and he helps her create a detailed list of allergies that he carries in his personal quiver, written in her own hand and sewn into the lining just in case she forgets again.

They know these things: how sometimes Clint favors his left side because left is his dominant arm and the one swordsman was sure to break; how Natasha prefers her glocks because they're a weapon she didn't often use in the Red Room and don't usually require close fighting; how he makes sure to sit slightly to the left of whoever is speaking because even with the aides he still hears better from his right ear; how she sometimes forgets that her cover is only a cover until she hears his voice through the comms; their separate claustrophobias.

Coulson was the only one who might have known, but now it's just them. And it always will be.


	17. 5-26: Lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He was lost in the twenty-first century until he ran into the petite bookstore owner on the crowded London streets.

Steve takes off from New York almost immediately after Thor returns to Asgard with Loki and the Tesseract in tow. He doesn’t have a set destination in mind, and somehow finds himself on a flight to England by the end of the day.

He lands at Heathrow and finds none of the landmarks he used to recognize. He’s a bit disappointed in himself for almost expecting to find them still there. When he woke up in New York it was the same way, so he’s not sure why he thought England would be any different.

Steve winds up renting a flat near one of London’s smaller shopping districts, but it’s another week at least before he ventures out to explore. It’s late afternoon by the time he wanders into the last shop in the area – a quaint bookstore going by the name ‘Book Nook’. There’s a blonde girl with short hair standing behind the counter ringing up a customer and a young brunette woman on the phone near the back. The cashier waves at him and he nods back before making his way through the stacks and browsing the titles. The atmosphere reminds him of the public library he used to spend time at while his mother worked. He makes his way closer to the back, catching the end of the brunette’s conversation.

“…pick it up herself or find somewhere to order it online, but you of all people know that I don’t deliver.” She hangs up and turns around, meeting his eyes for a moment before walking back up to the front. For the next three weeks he finds himself ending up at the bookstore, perusing the shelves and purchasing a familiar title here and there. He’s on his way back to his flat from a visit to central London at the beginning of week four, feeling just a little lost both in the world and in his head when he collides with something.

“Omigosh I am such a klutz!”

Or rather some _one_ he realizes, crouching down to help the brunette from the bookstore gather the half dozen or so books spilled across the concrete.

“Not your fault Miss,” he assures her, “I shoulda paid more attention. I got them,” he insists when she tries to reach for the books in his arms.

“A-are you sure?”

“Least I can do for practically knocking you down. You work at the bookstore a few blocks over, right?” She confirms and he falls into step beside her, conversing easily about his interest in the history of the last few decades when she offers to help him find some books of interest. She goes off on a tangent them, and he finds himself so caught up in her words, enraptured by the honest interest in them, that it takes him a second to realize that she’s just introduced herself as she unlocks the store.

“…Dawn, by the way, Dawn Summers.”

“Steve Rogers,” he informs her, setting the books down on the counter. Dawn smiles openly at him and for the first time since New York, he feels a little less lost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is based off of the very first chapter of my unfinished Dawn/Steve fic, in which the two meet. The story is mainly told from Dawns perspective of things, so I though it would be interesting to do their meeting from Steve's.


	18. 4-25: Shadow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She finds it comforting to walk in his shadow, especially while in the public eye.

When they end up in public together, Jane usually walks as close to Thor as she can get. The paparazzi have been swarming Avengers Tower – formerly Stark Tower – ever since the attempted Chitauri invasion. They backed off a little after a few months and press junkets.

After she and Darcy moved into Avengers Tower herself at Tony’s request, the press got interested in her too, questioning who the strange young women now living in Stark’s creation were. Their questions were answered after SHIELD finally allowed her to publish her Einstein-Rosen Bridge theory, and then they started stalking her to conferences and meetings and lectures, even when she went out shopping. They disappeared once SHIELD started supplying her with a security detail after a failed abduction attempt during one memorable conference, but they were back again with a vengeance following Thor’s triumphant return to Earth.

Yet they seem almost afraid of him, she realizes. So she starts taking Thor places; Stark usually has people do his shopping for him, but she sometimes just needs out of the tower. With Thor by her side, even when she manages to convince him to wear normal civilian Earth clothing, the paparazzi don’t dare get close. It’s comforting, walking in the shadow of someone who is as intimidating a character as the God of Thunder and knowing that, as frightening a shadow as he may cast, he’s only there at her whim. She’s not used to being in the public eye so much, and walking with him makes it all so much less oppressive.


	19. 2-43: Nuances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony notices the slight nuances in her actions and emotions and personality before Pepper even has time to consider the possibility.

Tony notices it first. He’s not sure what, exactly, that says about him, but he’s really not worried about that right now. Right now he’s more concerned about Pepper. Pepper, who hasn’t been able to look at a cup of coffee without wrinkling her nose. Who turned down sushi for the first time since he has known her. Who woke up this morning and promptly sprinted to the bathroom to throw up last night’s dinner.

It’s all the little things too; the way she starts taking her shoes off as soon as they’re alone instead of waiting for the car or waiting to get home, the way she starts rubbing at her temple more often, (the way she does whenever she has a migraine), the way her sleeping patterns start rivaling his. What cinched it for him, however, was when she lost her unusually unflappable cool at a board meeting.

He meets her on the ground floor of the tower that day, surprising her by taking her briefcase and handing her a bottle of water and a pill.

“What is this?”

“I need you to take it,” he states, ignoring her question as they get on the private elevator connecting to the Avengers’ floors and she slips off her heels.

“Tony, if this is about me throwing up this morning –”

“It is.”

“-you’re not authorized to write scrips and I am not sick, so don’t ask me to wear a mask.”

“I wasn’t going to. I just need you to take the pill.”

“Then tell me what it is.”

“It’s a vitamin, okay? Promise. Scouts’ honor!”

“You were never a scout Tony.”

“Actually I was. For about a day. Not the point. Point is you’re tired and throwing up and your freckles are showing. So just take the vitamin.”

“I’m not going to take strange vitamins.”

“They’re not strange, I got them from Bruce.”

“Then why isn’t Bruce giving them to me.”

“Because he doesn’t know that I have them. Or that you need them. Come on Pep.”

“Well, why do I suddenly need vitamins?”

“Because pregnant women need vitamins!” he finally exclaims as the elevator doors open.

Pepper stares at him a moment, stunned, pointedly ignoring Steve, Natasha, and Clint staring at them from the common area. She slowly, robotically, pops the pill into her mouth and downs it with a swallow of water.

“Pregnant,” she repeats.

“Congratulations,” Natasha comments calmly, holding out a hand to Clint, who begrudgingly hands over two fifty dollar bills, one of which she hands to Steve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's adorable fluff. I know.  
> Also Steve, Clint, and Natasha (and occasionally Bruce) have running bets on everybody's relationships.


	20. 3-11: Midnight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their first kiss happens on her twenty-fifth birthday when she blows out the candles on her birthday cake and leans over to grant her wish herself just as the clock strikes midnight.

Darcy’s never celebrated her birthday. Sure, Max has known how to bake a cake out of a box since they were six, but they had never really celebrated. No party, no music, no friends, just the two of them. So she’s more than a little surprised when she gets back to the tower to find a banner with her name printed on it hanging in the common area. Tony is grinning like an idiot, Pepper, Natasha, and Clint are sitting at the bar with barely-there amusement written on their faces, and Jane is sitting on the couch between Thor and Steve.

“Who ratted me out?” she demands, “did you hack SHIELD files again?” she asks Tony as he tugs her forwards, pushing her towards the bar.

“Nope,” he denies. “This was all Pepper.”

“Don’t even,” the ginger interjects. “I mentioned her birthday to you and you demanded we throw a party.”

“But who told you?”

“Uhm…guilty?” Jane admits, turning and leaning over the back of the couch as Tony presses a beer into Darcy’s hand.

“Look guys, this is a great gesture, and I honestly appreciate it, but –”

“But nothing; we’ll drink cheap beer, eat ice cream cake and pizza, and you’ll open presents.”

“I really can’t. I have to –” she’s interrupted by her phone buzzing in her hand and she opens it up to read the message.

_Wrking l8. Raincheck 4 2morrow?_

A hand on her shoulder has her turning to find Natasha standing behind her.

“Do you have other plans?” the redhead inquires, casting a surreptitious glance at Darcy’s phone.

“You know what?” She deletes the message, locking her phone. “I don’t. Let’s have a party.”

 

* * *

 

 

They’re halfway through the latest playlist on Darcy’s iPod and she’s already had three beers and two slices of pizza when she realizes that someone is missing from their celebration.

“Where’s Bruce?” she asks the room at large.

“Some consulting work for SHIELD,” Tony answers flippantly, attempting to reach past Pepper for the cake knife and getting his hand swatted away.

“Alone?”

“Sitwell and Hill are there. So’s Fury,” Clint assures her, handing Natasha and Pepper both a martini.

“Oh.” She realizes that she’s slightly buzzed at this point, swallowing down the last of her fourth drink, but she really doesn’t care.

“So who was the message from?”

“Hm?”

“The one that had you so eager to party.”

“Oh. Max had to cancel on me,” she pouts. Tony and Pepper share looks.

“Max?” Pepper asks.

“Yea. We usually do the birthday thing every year. Max had work. You know what?” She stands abruptly. “Let’s do cake! Sugar sounds like a great idea right now!”

 

* * *

 

 

It’s just after 11:30 p.m. when the elevator opens and Bruce steps out. Darcy is sitting on the floor in front of the television, popcorn bowl in her lap and enraptured by what appears to be The Princess Bride playing on the screen. Clint is sitting in the overstuffed armchair, fast asleep with Natasha curled up in his lap, his arms wrapped loosely around her waist. She opens one eye, almost cat-like, when he walks in, closing it again when she sees that it’s only him. Bruce walks over to stand behind Darcy.

“You missed the party.” She states.

“Was it fun?”

“There was cake.”

“Are you drunk?”

“Pfft. Dude, I was drunk hours ago, now it’s a mild buzz. Tomorrow it’ll be an oppressive hangover. You know what sucks about birthdays?” She asks, suddenly spinning to face him, knocking over the popcorn bowl in the process. “Everyone tells you to make a wish, but no one wants to know what it is. How is it supposed to come true if no one knows what it is?”

“It is still your birthday,” Bruce points out.

“So if I asked you to, you’d help me grant my birthday wish?”

“I could try,” Bruce chuckles. Darcy stares at him, studying his face intently before rising to her knees and, placing her hands on either side of his face, pulling his head down to hers, lips capturing his. Bruce tenses a moment before relaxing, pulling Darcy to her feet and wrapping his arms around her waist. She pulls away panting, checking her watch: 11:59 p.m.

“Happy Birthday to me,” she breathes, leaning in for another kiss just as the clock says midnight.


	21. 4-01: Motion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jane is in constant motion; when she’s not flitting around her lab, she’s always got some sort of movement going on – knee bouncing, fingers tapping – but she finds herself strangely, comfortably motionless in Thor’s presence.

It’s the first thing that Darcy notices after Thor has returned to Earth – aside from the whole giant blonde alien god thing of course. Jane is never still, she even rolls around and kicks and twitches in her sleep. She’s constantly flitting in-between equation boards, driving Darcy nuts with her little nervous ticks and crazy habits and motions.  
Yet whenever Thor and Jane are in the same room, Jane is still. No bouncing knee and no chewing on or tapping of her fingernails. No twisting her fingers together and no swaying back and forth. Jane is, for one of the few times in her life, content to sit still. When she mentions it to Jane one day in the office when Thor is off with Steve and Clint in the gym, Jane just scoffs at her, chewing on the end of her pen and making a note on an equation board.

She doesn’t even think about Darcy’s words until the next time she sees Thor. She’s sitting on the couch in the common area, one tablet on her lap, another on the table in front of her, and something mind-numbing playing on the television. She’s got the fingernail of the pinky of one hand in-between her teeth and her knee is bouncing up and down, pushing off of the coffee table for support. Then Thor walks into the room, Jane catches sight of him out of the corner of her eye, and suddenly her knee stops bouncing and her hand falls from her mouth to rest in her lap. It isn't even a conscious decision on her part, she just stops moving, relaxing into the couch cushions.

It’s not intimidation, she knows, as Thor seats himself next to her and she leans against his side. It isn't fear or anything negative like that. She knows exactly what it is and why, and she smiles at the relaxed feeling of safety that washes through her entire system when he wraps an arm around her.

It’s a feeling of safety, of belonging, of _home_.


	22. 3-15: Silk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soon after they start 'officially' dating, Darcy steals Bruce's favorite purple silk shirt and refuses to give it back or apologize.

Bruce is sitting in the common area working on his tablet when Natasha walks out with what looks like a familiar pair of Darcy's pajamas, a water bottle, and a pill-box. He glances at her, his gaze lingering a moment on the pill-box before it returns to his project.

"Aspirin." She informs his unspoken question as the elevator chimes softly, announcing its arrival. The doors open to the sound of Darcy's voice, protesting something in a loud whine.

"- told him a duzzen times. And y'kin lemme go. M' not hilplesssss!" Bruce looks up again to find Clint leading the brunette out of the elevator with one arm around her waist, supporting most of her weight; her heels are clutched in one of her hands along with a thin wallet.

"How bad?" Natasha asks, setting her wares down on the coffee table and helping settle Darcy into an armchair before sitting on the coffee table herself.

"Wasn't lookin' too bad, then I think some guy slipped her a tampered drink so I'm not really sure," Clint answers, "I got there just as he was tryin' to get her in a taxi."

"He was cute though!" Darcy whines.

"Trust me любовь, he was not as cute as your brain thinks," Natasha soothes, brushing Darcy's hair away from her eyes and handing her the bottled water, cap off. "I crushed up two niacin tablets in it. It should help."

"Where was she?" Bruce asks, locking his tablet and leaving it on the table next to the redhead.

"Some friend's little sister was having a 21st birthday at some bar downtown. Darcy texted me when she started feeling buzzed about an hour and a half ago." Clint answers as Darcy finishes off the bottle.

"You should head to bed Clint; I've got this," Natasha states, grabbing Darcy's jacket from him, "you have an early flight." Clint looks about to protest when Bruce speaks up.

"I can take her back to her room actually," both agents turn to look at him.

"Didn't you just get back a few hours ago Natasha? Darcy trusts me and I'm not going to try anything; I'll walk her to her room and make sure she gets to sleep."

"Are you sure that's-?"

"That's fine," Natasha interrupts the archer, standing up, "just make sure she changes before she passes out." She brushes past Clint, hand barely touching his before he follows her out.

"Up you get," he mutters to Darcy, sliding an arm under her shoulder and around her back, grabbing the pajamas with his free hand.

"You have reallllly fluffy hair," she slurs, "do you use a spessal fluffing shampoo?"

"Sure Darcy."

"Does Mr. Mean-green-fightin'-machine? Heesh really warm. Big too."

"Very big," Bruce agrees, leading Darcy down a hallway. They make it halfway down the hallway before Darcy stumbles away from him, heading towards a door at a fast clip. A warning dies in his throat when the door to his room opens for her.

"JARVIS?"

" _I detected that Ms. Lewis was moving too quickly to stop and determined the best course of action to avoid injury_ ," the computer states.

"Thank you," Bruce sighs, walking over to stand just inside of his room to find Darcy lying face down on his bed. "Darcy you shouldn't lay like that." She grunts but obligingly rolls over. "I'm not gonna make you move, but will you at least put on the pajamas Natasha brought you?" In response, she quickly and clumsily shoves her skinny jeans down her legs and throws them at him, hitting the wall instead. She sits up and makes grabby hands at him, prompting him to walk over and hold out the loose cotton Betty Boop sleep pants. She stares at him blankly and he helps her to her feet before kneeling down and helping her lift first one leg and then the other into them. Darcy drops back into the bed, hands falling onto his shoulders.

"Why don't you like me?" She asks, her voice suddenly clearer; he looks up at her to find her eyes clear and bright.

"I like you," he answers simply.

"But you avoid me. We kissed on my birthday, and we've gone out for coffee and lunch and now you don't like me anymore. M'I a bad kisser?" She pouts, pulling her shirt off over her head and shaking her hair out.

Bruce stands up, setting the loose tank top left by Natasha drown on the bed and very carefully not looking at the creamy skin not hidden by Darcy's bra.

"You are not a bad kisser Darcy," he chuckles.

"Then why did we stop dating?" She whines. He looks at her again to find her wearing his favorite purple button-up that he had left on the bed.

"I hadn't realized that we were," he admits amusedly as she flops back onto her back, rolling to the middle of the bed and curling around his pillow; he pulls his desk chair over and seats himself in it.

"You kissed me and bought me coffees and lunch. How did you not know?"

"Then aren't we still dating?" He asks gently, passing her a fresh water bottle from the mini-fridge in his bedside table.

"Promise?"

"Go to sleep Darcy." She does.

 

* * *

 

 

Darcy walks out into the common dining area the next morning in a clean pair of her jeans and still wearing his shirt. Natasha simply raises an eyebrow at him and presses a fresh cup of coffee into Darcy's hands before walking out.

"God I love that woman sometimes," Darcy moans around the rim of the cup, sitting down next to him at the island bar, leaning against his shoulder. "So I was pretty out of it most of last night, but I seem to remember someone promising that we were actually dating."

"Straight to the point then?"

"Of course, Bruce; you meant it didn't you?"

"I-of course I meant it but-,"

"Good. I don't want to hear anything about age differences or the Other Guy, and you're taking me out to dinner on Friday." She kisses his cheek before settling her head against his shoulder again, finishing her coffee. They stay that way for the rest of the morning and she wears his shirt around the tower for the rest of the week until Friday night; he never gets the shirt back, but he can't say he really minds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations:  
> любовь = love
> 
> So, we're getting close to catching up to the point of what I have already posted on Tumblr & FF.net & DevArt. So updates may not be as frequent as they currently are soon. But I hope you guys keep reading anyway!


	23. 2-16: Breaking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pepper feels her heart breaking the moment Obadiah and James pulled up to Stark Manor without Tony in tow; she doesn’t experience a feeling quite like it until she watches him fly a nuclear warhead into a portal above New York on live television…and doesn’t see him fly out again.

Pepper arrives at the Malibu house the day after Tony is scheduled to return, only to find the house unusually dark and quiet.

“JARVIS?” she calls, entering her code to turn off the security system.

_“Good morning Ms. Potts.”_

“Where is Tony?”

_“Sir has not yet returned from his scheduled weapons demonstration.”_

“Was a flight plan filed?”

_“There was a plan approved for Sir’s return flight yesterday; the flight never left.”_

“So Tony’s still in Afghanistan?” she inquires, movement catching her eye from outside on the driveway.

_“That would appear to be the case.”_

“Do we know what he’s doing?”

 _“I am afraid not Ms. Potts.”_ Pepper frowns, walking over to the front door in time to see James closing the passenger-side door, Obadiah getting out of the driver’s seat. Dread settles in the pit of her stomach when she realizes that neither Tony nor Happy are with them or in the car. She exits the house, meeting James at the front entrance.

“Where’s Tony?” she asks, attempting to keep her voice steady.

“Pepper, there was an incident after the demonstration,” Obadiah begins.

“Incident? What kind of incident? Where is Tony?” James places both hands on her shoulders and Pepper feels a hand closing around her heart.

“Tony’s Humvee was attacked,” he tells her softly. “All three of the soldiers on board are dead, but Tony…Tony’s missing.” The hand squeezes and Pepper struggles to breathe as she feels her heart crack.

“Missing,” she repeats, “well, what do we do? What can I do?”

“We need to get into the workshop.” Obadiah states.

“Well I’m afraid that that’s not possible. The workshop is locked. Tony locks it whenever he goes out of town. He’s the only one with the codes to unlock it. Have any demands been made?” she can feel the crack growing even as she asks the question.

“None, but Pepper?” she meets James’ eyes, “I’m not gonna stop looking until we find him. I’m going to bring Tony home and everything is going to be fine. Your job right now is to help Obadiah do his job.”

“Keep the company running,” she finishes, plastering a weak smile on her face even as her heart breaks and shatters.

 

* * *

 

 

When James – no,  _Rhodey_ – brings Tony home three months later, arm in a sling and his face a little worse for wear even as he cracks a joke with her, she gathers up the shards and glues them back together a little bit every day until Tony nearly gets himself killed saving her from Obadiah and it finally seems whole again. Then he hands over the company to her and she knows that something is wrong, but for the sake of her heart, she doesn’t pry, doesn’t try to dig and find out what’s wrong. It isn’t until Natalie-Natasha-whatever-her-name-is inadvertently gets Tony to admit that he was dying that Pepper realizes that the cracks in her heart will probably never disappear, but that Tony is the glue holding them together.

 

* * *

 

 

Months later, she watches him on the news, fighting honest-to-God aliens, and she feels the cracks open up again at the sight of his battered suit. She doesn’t want to watch, but she can’t make herself look away, no matter how hard she tries. It isn’t until the cameras catch sight of him flying under a nuclear warhead, steering it into the black hole all of these creatures appear to be escaping from that she forces herself to look away. She watches him fly in, and then the cameras cut away and she has to get her assistant to turn off the television while she tries and fails to keep her heart from breaking all over again.


	24. 4-22: Mad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jane doesn't see Thor truly mad until one of the SHIELD lab monkeys insults her.

"… _know_ you did _not_ just insult the reason you even have this job!" Jane hears Darcy yelling as she enters the lab, Thor right behind her. "So you better get down on your knees and grovel at her feet! She is brilliant! And beautiful! And you should be absolutely grateful for the chance to work with her!" They round the corner to find one of the SHIELD-assigned lab assistants trapped in a corner by Darcy, who is waving her tazer in his face.

"Darcy!" Jane yells, running over and grabbing her friend's arm.

"Let me go Jane!"

"No! Stop this!" she pulls Darcy away and the other woman stops struggling against her. "What is going on with you?"

"That sniveling little lab monkey needs to apologize! Right now!"

"For what Darcy?"

"For insulting you!" No sooner have the words left her mouth than Thor had the offending scientist held in an iron grip by the scruff of his lab coat.

"Thor!"

"You dare to insult the Lady Jane?" his voice is quiet, not his usual thunderous tone, and it's more frightening than anything else he's done.

"Thor!"

"I asked you a question."

"Jane, leave it! The guy totally deserves it," Darcy hisses, "he's been trashing me all week, which I can totally deal with, but then he started in on you! You are so much more than a pretty face or a one-hit-wonder! You are gorgeous and amazing and brilliant and you discover realms for God's sake!"

"Darcy! Be. Quiet." Jane orders. "Thor, please put him down; I can have security escort him out."

"Jane, if Thor wants to defend your honor, just let him."

"Darcy, _please_ go home," Jane sighs, pushing her towards the door before turning back towards Thor; she's seen him in the midst of battle and she's seen him steaming at his father and at Loki, but she's never seen him truly angry until this moment. "Thor. Please put him down. I'll call SHIELD and have them send someone to take care of him." His grip loosens and the man drops to the ground, scrambling away. Jane ducks around to stand in front of Thor, turning to face him.

"He insulted you."

"It's not the first time and it won't be the last time that someone insults me Thor," Jane chuckles, "but for what it's worth? I find it incredibly charming that you feel the need to protect me from the world."


	25. 5-39: Solid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dawn doesn’t think she’ll ever be able to sleep alone again after spending one night with his solid weight next to her.

For the first time in Goddess-only-knows how long, Dawn doesn’t startle awake. She peels her eyes open just as the first strains of sunlight stream past her curtains. She extends her legs, stretching out the tension in her muscles before curling back up and snuggling back into the warm body next to her.

When Steve had shown up at her apartment at seven-thirty to pick her up, Dawn had only just gotten out of the shower, and answered the door in her underwear and terrycloth robe, her damp hair pulled back in a French braid. He had taken one look at her exhausted face and promised that they could push their date back.

“No,” she protested as he turned her around and gently nudged her in the direction of her bedroom. “I've been looking forward to this all day!”

“You look exhausted; I’m worried you’ll fall asleep at the table,” he insisted. “We can do dinner tomorrow night, but if I have to put you to bed myself, I will.”

“Don’t tempt me,” she muttered. “Steve, I’m not that tired, honest.” Her words are undermined by the yawn escaping her mouth following them. He raised an eyebrow at her and she raised her hands in surrender. She grabbed her clothes off of her dresser, running into the bathroom to change into the lightweight sweatpants and cotton t-shirt she slept in. She opened the door to find Steve standing in the hallway where she had left him.

“Fine, I’m exhausted. But I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight, so you might as well stay if we can’t go out for dinner. I’ll put on a movie and make some popcorn.” Steve walked over and pulled her into his arms before scooping her up in a bridal carry.

“What are you doing?” she asked, clinging to the front of his shirt.

“Putting you to bed; you need to sleep,” he stated, setting her down on the futon in her living room. “I dunno how long you've been up, but if you insist on sleeping out here, fine.” She grabbed his wrist as he reached across her for the blanket draped over the back.

“Stay?” she requested, chewing on her bottom lip. Steve looked stunned before he finally gave in, toed off his shoes, dropped his phone and his keys on her coffee table, and settled behind her on the futon. Dawn reached for the remote, flipping to a random movie channel as Steve draped the blanket across both of them and gently wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her against the solid weight of his chest.

Dawn doesn’t remember falling asleep, but the television is off now so it was obviously sometime before Steve did. She manages to roll over without too much difficulty, to find him still asleep, breathing deep and even, and she can’t help but smile. Their sleepovers become a regular part of their week, until soon Dawn doesn’t think she’ll ever be able to sleep without nightmares again without the reassuring weight of Steve’s solid form next to her. Steve obviously feels the same, because it’s not long after the thought first crosses her mind that he suggests that they move in together.


	26. 1-14: Sex

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They work together in the field for years before they finally end up in the bedroom, but their chemistry translates amazingly well.

Natasha is with SHIELD for five years before Budapest, four and a half of which are spent as one half of Strike Team: Delta, right alongside Clint Barton.

He’s an unknown entity in her life, and unknowns are far more dangerous than anything else. James was an unknown – she couldn't read him, much in the same way she can’t read Clint. Not at the beginning anyway. It takes the first year of the two of them working together as a team to accustom herself to his dry humor and self-deprecating wit; by the end of year two, they work together like a well-oiled machine and have earned a reputation among SHIELD as the two you want on the ground when things start going to hell; he is the second man she has ever trusted to have her back. Year three started bringing in the more difficult missions, the long-term undercover ops that occasionally have her questioning what’s the truth and what’s not, and she finds herself letting Clint under her skin even as he drops any and all masks around her, the last of their respective armors dropping away in front of the other.

The beginning of year four was Prague, where outdated intel led to Hawkeye having to get up close and personal with her mark, which led to the _policie_ chasing them through the city streets, necessitating one of Natasha’s quick hiding-in-plain-sight escapes. Clint had played along surprisingly well, seemingly unaffected by the intimacy that had brought both greater and lesser men to their knees; after Prague came São Paulo, where he had to bodily carry her from the burning building. São Paulo was followed by Azerbaijan, where the safe house was compromised and they ended up on the run for nearly a month before they find the parties responsible and SHIELD is able to pull off an extraction without causing an international incident. Abidjan followed right on the heels of Azerbaijan, and all hopes of subtlety is lost the moment they hit the ground; by the end of the week, they find themselves pinned down by the mercenary group they were sent after, back-to-back among the crumbling brick work.

Year five starts out as a series of evaluations by SHIELD doctors and psychologists to make sure she’s not playing them before she gets sent on a string of solo assignments. Then comes Budapest; what should have been a simple week-long solo infiltration turned into a shootout involving multiple interested parties after a double agent was revealed to have been supplying all of the mission intelligence from the get-go in the hopes of leading Natasha into a trap. Where Clint, living up to his name, spots inconsistencies in the data and had shown up with just enough time to tip her off, a half-formed extraction plan at the ready. Where she dives in front of a bullet meant for his back. She wakes up in SHIELD medical with Clint’s worried voice ringing in her head, mixing with the vague memories of her own voice spouting off in Russian and doctors calling for anesthetic, to find him seated at her bedside, fingertips inches from hers and fast asleep, Coulson seated in a chair against the wall directly in front of her bed and well in her line of vision. She swallows hard, clearing her throat before trying to speak.

“Sit rep sir?” she asks, voice hoarse and quiet.

“Bullet nicked your lung, just barely,” Coulson replies, standing and handing her a plastic cup of water with a straw in it, which she accepts with a slightly shaking hand. “Any higher and it would have torn straight through. The mission was successful; the intel you gathered prevented AIM or HYDRA from getting some very valuable blueprints and the leak was taken care of.” His voice is quiet and she glances meaningfully at Clint. “It took us almost twenty-four hours to get a med-vac extraction safely in place. You were in surgery about eight hours. It took you two to recover from the anesthesia. Barton’s been asleep for twenty-six minutes.”

“P.T.?”

“Based on what we've seen of your healing factor so far, you should be able to resume a light training schedule day after tomorrow.” Her eyes drift to Clint again and Coulson sets a gentle hand on one of her shoulders. “Barton is fine, some minor lacerations and bruising aside. Get some rest agent.”

 

* * *

 

 

Three days later, Natasha finds Clint in the mess hall, sitting alone at a corner table, a sandwich sitting untouched in front of him. She grabs a chicken salad and takes a seat across from him.

“How are you doing?” she asks.

“Shouldn't I be asking you that?” he replies wryly, looking at her, picking at the crusts on his sandwich.

“I’ll be cleared for active duty again before the week is up,” she promises. “I took a look at my chart; they went a little heavy on the anesthesia.” His hands freeze.

“Coulson didn't tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

“You were metabolizing the anesthesia too quickly. You woke up on the table twice, Nat.” She nods slowly, taking a bite of her salad as he finally bites into his sandwich. “There was nothing about it in your file,” he continues after swallowing.

“There wouldn't be,” she comments around another bite.

“What do you mean?”

“Any job I had for the Red Room was usually espionage: infiltrations, seductions, assassinations. If I was injured badly enough to require any sort of serious medical care, it was taken as a failure. Our handlers had inventive means of punishment, even if they did call it training.”

“No anesthesia.”

“Pain resistance,” the words are bitter on her tongue and she glances up to find him staring at her, a strange look on his face that evokes an unusual feeling in her chest. She shakes it off and remembers her reason for tracking him down. “I reserved the mats for Friday, and Ramirez is ready to open a pool if you’re up for it once they've ‘officially’ cleared me. It’s been a while.” He stares a moment longer before responding with an affirmative and returning to his food. The feeling is still there in her chest, but she shrugs it off.

 

* * *

 

 

Natasha manages to ignore the feeling until their next assignment, where they end up posing as a married couple on vacation in Italy to catch the attention of an overly amorous successful businessman suspected of funding AIM operations in Europe. The mission was a simple honey pot trap, and “Mrs. Waverly” seduced the lonely businessman, her “husband” interrupting them mid-seduction. She got the mark alone, the two of them got the information and then they handed him over to the waiting SHIELD team without a hitch.

What they hadn't counted on was the mark’s security team checking in on their employer an hour ahead of schedule. The managed an exit without any permanent damage done to the hired goons and were safely ensconced in the safe house by the time Clint noticed the blood trailing down Natasha’s arm. He grabs her wrist without thinking and quickly finds himself flat on his back at her feet; his reaction is an automatic counter, wrapping his legs around her waist and flipping her over his head, using the momentum to land on top, straddling her waist.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Natasha snarls.

“You’re bleeding!” he snaps back, leaning slightly to the side to inspect her arm.

“What?” Natasha turns her head to find him gently pulling at a small tear in the arm of her shirt, the sleeve now stained red. “I didn't even feel it.” She mutters, sitting up, bringing the two of them face-to-face, inches apart. They both freeze, Clint’s eyes flicking down to meet hers, hands still on her arm.

“In Budapest; why’d you do it?” he whispers, his tongue darting out to swipe over his lips. Natasha doesn’t have an answer, just the sudden urge to lick his lips herself. So she does. She leans in towards him, and it’s as if he received some sort of signal, or maybe it’s just from the years they've worked together, because he meets her halfway. She sucks his lower lip into her mouth and catches it between her teeth as his hands slide up, pulling the elastic from her hair and tangling in her curls.

She tugs at his jacket and his hands disappear from her hair long enough for her to shove his jacket down his arms. As soon as he’s free of it, his lips are back on hers and Natasha lies back on the carpet again as his fingers make quick work of the buttons on her blouse at the same time that her hands are nudging at her pants, pushing them down to her ankles before kicking them off. He pops the last button on her shirt and she grabs his arms, rolling her hips and shifting her center of gravity against him, forcing him to the side so that their positions are reversed and she’s now straddling him, sliding her shirt down off of her arms. One of Clint’s hands cups the back of her neck, pulling her in for another heated kiss, the other expertly opening the clasp on her bra and removing it as her hands find his belt buckle, sliding it from his belt loops quickly and unzipping his pants, shoving them over his hips with his underwear. His hands slide down to her hips, catching the waistband of her underwear and dragging them down until they’re caught around one ankle. He gasps into her mouth when her hand closes around his erection and she smiles against his lips, wasting no time in sliding down onto him, both groaning at the sensation of him filling her. She rolls her hips, nails biting into his shoulders, and he flattens his feet on the ground, using his new leverage to thrust up in time with the figure eights Natasha’s drawing with her hips.

Clint’s hands wrap around her hips and he sits up, changing the angle. Natasha feels the muscles in his legs tense and she wraps her legs around his waist as he surges to his feet, slamming her back against the wall and pressing deeper into her, almost flush against her. She leans back against the wall, head tipped back and one of Clint’s strong hands at the small of her back for extra support; she scratches at the peeling paint while using her new position to roll against him, meeting his hips as they snap forward until her orgasm crests, her entire body tensing with the feeling. Clint is still moving, shallow thrusts riding out the final waves of her orgasm by the time her body relaxes, and she wraps her arms around his neck, pulling herself up to capture his lips, teeth scraping against his lips as he toes off his shoes, stepping out of the pants and underwear twisted around his ankles before turning around towards the bed. He drops, landing with her knees hanging over the edge, a hand cushioning her head as he picks up pace again.

They meet thrust for thrust, one of Clint’s hands sliding down to grasp Natasha’s leg, drawing it up over his shoulder, changing the angle of penetration and drawing a sharp cry from her lips in the shape of his name. She can feel the muscles in his neck tense and coil where her leg is resting, his pace stuttering against her hips, and she knows he’s close so she snakes a hand in-between their bodies to circle her clit. Her second orgasm has her arching up against him, her vision going white while she’s clenching around him, trying to draw him to his climax as well. His breathing catches and he stills for half a second, half a second in which his muscles tense and she knows exactly what he’s going to try next. So Natasha drops her leg from his shoulder and rolls so that she’s on top, hands pinning his wrists as she starts to ride him, hips moving in maddening little circles while he tries desperately to stop the shallow thrusts of his hips in response to her movements.

“Shit Natasha!”

“Come on,” she soothes, breath hitching in her throat.

“Not…don’t have…condom,” he manages to gasp.

“We’re good,” she insists, clenching around him again until he gives up, hips bucking against hers as he finally lets go, spilling inside of her. She releases her grip on his wrists, collapsing forward onto his chest.

“Jesus,” he pants, wrapping one arm around her waist. She hums in agreement, pressing a chaste kiss against his chest, right above his heart.


	27. 4-50: Believe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As a child, she never believed in anything and refused to go to church with her parents; these days, it’s hard not to believe in all the possibilities.

Jane never went to church as a child. As soon as she was old enough to protest, she did so vehemently, refusing to accompany her parents. She doesn’t believe in a higher power…or at least she didn’t until a veritable god fell out of the sky and she ran him over with her truck. Now though, now that she’s mapped the stars of not only Earth, but of Asgard as well as Jotunheim, she finds it hard not to believe.

She mentions this once to Darcy, about a month after the culmination of the Foster Theory and the Einstein-Rosen Bridge equation, combined with the collective genius of Dr. Bruce Banner and Tony Stark results in the repair of the Bifrost. Darcy’s response is a derisive snort, reminding Jane that Darcy wasn’t as close to as skeptical about religion as Jane was until Thor dropped into their laps. It also reminds Jane of what Darcy said when Thor first appeared, _‘primitive cultures may have worshipped them as deities’_. This in turn gets Jane thinking, of all of the possibilities, the infinite worlds to be discovered – not just the nine realms and what they may contain, but every other known deity as well. With the proven existence of the Norse gods, Jane can’t help but wonder about all of the other possibilities as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaand we're all caught up.  
> The next update might not be for a while as I'm visiting family and have a couple other projects that I'm working on.


	28. 5-02: Apples

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Irony of all ironies, Captain America is allergic to apples.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to have this posted yesterday, but it was my niece's first birthday, so we had one big party for her, and her two older sisters whose ninth and eleventh birthdays are later this summer.
> 
> So belated happy 4th guys!

“Steve?” he turns to find Dawn standing in the kitchen doorway, a pie tin in her hands. “You okay? You were just…standing there.”

“Was watchin' the fireworks,” he explains, holding out a hand and tugging her over when she takes it, wrapping an arm around her waist, pulling her back against his chest and pointing out the window to the admittedly impressive Cony Island firework display. “Bucky and I used to go every year when I was up to it.”

“It’s amazing. No matter how many times I've seen fireworks, it’s always different,” she muses. “how was the party?”

“The usual zoo.”

“So, press crawling everywhere, fans screaming and fainting, and Tony attempting and failing to get smashing drunk?”

“Sounds about right.”

“I’m sorry you had to spend your birthday of all days playing the dancing monkey for the teeming masses,” she remarks sincerely.

“It’s fine.”

“It really isn't; we made plans.”

“And since when do either of our plans pan out?” he chuckles against her hair as a particularly energetic set of red, white, and blue fireworks explode in mid-air.

“Good point,” Dawn agrees wryly, pulling forward slightly and turning in his arms. “Invasions, evil villain attacks, strange magic artifacts going missing, apocalypse number Goddess only knows how many,” she lists off.

“Maybe we’re cursed?”

“Nah, it’s just a constant of my life: Tuesdays, birthdays, and the month of May. But at least I get free stuff out of it. One of the girls I had to check on today works at a diner and they had pies. I happen to be on good terms with the owner since we helped stop the diner from going smush a couple years ago.”

“That explains the pie tin at least. What kind?”

“What kind does only every store and restaurant in America sell on the Fourth of July?” she responds; Steve eyes the tin warily. “What? What’s with the suspicious look?”

“It’s apple pie isn't it?”

“Why Steven Rogers, I do declare your detective skills to be at least average,” Dawn teases in an over-the-top Southern Belle voice.

“I know you mean well but…”

“But what? You don’t like apple pie?”

“Wouldn't know,” he admits, “was allergic to apples as a kid.”

“Wait a minute,” she takes a step back, looking him in the eye, “I thought Project: Rebirth took care of all your health issues?”

“That’s what Bucky thought too: we were in England for maybe a week, near the countryside, and he found an orchard. Tossed me an apple; I touched it and broke out into a rash. Neither of us decided to see what would happen if I took a bite.”

“So you mean to tell me that irony of all ironies, Captain _America_ is allergic to apples? The man who stands for every good American value, including, but not limited to, baseball and _apple pie_ , is _allergic_ to _apples_?” she needles, trying and failing to hold back her laughter.

“Yes, Dawn,” he sighs, stepping towards her, “I’m allergic to apples.”

“I’m sorry; I know I probably shouldn't be finding this as funny as I do. I’ll just give the pie to Tony or Jane or something.” She chuckles.

“Maybe later,” Steve suggests, taking another step forward until he’s close enough to bend his head for a kiss; Dawn melts against him, back pressing against the full-length glass window. Her arm flails to the side, waving around until she manages to set the pie tin down on the nearby counter.

“Sure,” she agrees breathlessly when they both come up for air, “later is good.”


	29. 1-01: Comfort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They always manage to find comfort in each other; whether they have been working solo or as a pair, they know that the other will always be able to understand.

Clint walks into his quarters and drops his bag by the door, breathing out a sigh and running a hand through his hair, before leaning down to unlace and remove his boots. Morocco had been a doozy; what was supposed to have been a three day operation had turned into a three week job requiring them to call in Coulson for support instead of relying on the temporary handler he usually received for short-term assignments. Coulson was usually reserved for Strike Team: Delta or Natasha’s complicated solo work; the difficult stuff.

He crosses to his bedroom, pushing open the door to find Natasha curled up in the middle of his bed, lying on her left side. He frowns, slightly surprised. Not that finding Natasha in his quarters after a trying mission was strange – she always seemed to know everything – but the fact that she was lying on her left, facing away from the door, when she slept better on her right and enjoyed having a clear view of her exit, was.

“Nat?” he calls softly. She doesn’t respond, just takes one long shuddering breath, and Clint peels off his tac vest before sliding onto the bed next to her. Once he’s up closer, he can make out the outline of a sling across her back in the darkness and his frown deepens. “Tasha?” He sets a gentle hand on her shoulder and she flinches away from him. Clint sits up, maneuvering around so that he’s on her other side, facing her, and he can see the fading bruises on her jaw and neck, knows that there are probably more on her arms and legs underneath her long-sleeved cotton sleep shirt and pants, but he doesn’t comment on it. He just meets her eyes and reaches down, pulling the duvet up to cover her shoulders, blanketing both of them in the comfort of the other’s presence; because sometimes, that’s all they need.


	30. 6-01: First

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their first meeting is one that she knows her sister will never let her forget, as embarrassing as it was.

“So where, exactly, are we going Lewis?”

“The hospital,” Darcy grits out, “because my sister –”

“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” James interrupts, “you have a sister?”

“Yes, and she is an idiot,” the brunette spits, turning a sharp corner into the hospital parking lot. She parks the car and gets out, slamming the door behind her and not waiting for him. James follows her through the maze of hallways until he loses sight of her.

“…completely reckless!” he finally hears her shout.

“Oh come on Darcy, this was totally not even my fault…this time.” He hears a voice answer; he follows the voices to a bed in the ER, where Darcy is standing next to an identical young woman sitting on a bed, the wrist and heel of the hand on her right arm wrapped in white gauze.

“You got in a fight! At work!”

“Totally unprovoked – he threw a beer bottle at me Darcy! Do I body-check him? No. Do I clothesline him on his way out the door? No. What do I do? I actually let Han call the police for once!”

“Max –” James clears his throat, interrupting whatever Darcy was about to say and causing both girls to look at him.

“We all set here Lewis?” There is a moment of silence as Darcy attempts to glare him to death before her twin finally speaks.

“Dude, please tell me you’re single because I want to climb you like a tree!”

“Max!”

“Oops, did I say that out loud?”


	31. 2-49: Victory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Pepper's victory dance after a busy day of successful meetings is one of the things that made him fall even deeper in love...and brought with it the realization that he wanted to marry her."

When Tony walks into Pepper's office to pick her up for date night, he's more than a little surprised to find her dancing around in her stockinged feet, Jimmy Choos dangling from one hand. He stops short, the door closing behind him as he stares at her. She doesn't notice him until she stops, facing the door a little out of breath.

"Having a dance-off pants-off without me dear?" He ask stepping towards her.

"I'm wearing a skirt. How long were you standing there?"

"Five minutes. Maybe. Do you always randomly hokey pokey all over the place on a workday?" Tony teases, an arm wrapping around her waist as she slips her heels back on.

"Have you ever actually seen the hokey pokey before? And no. I just happened to finish all my meetings today. With no meltdowns, explosions, or need to call for security."

"So that was, what? A victory dance?" Pepper's face flushes slightly and Tony grins. "It was. You just victory danced all over your office!" He exclaims in the wake of her silence.

"Yes Tony, I have a victory dance," his girlfriend huffs, "and don't even start because I have seen your victory dance."

"This is me not starting anything," he promises, planting a kiss on her cheek and leading her out of the office. "This is me taking you to dinner. As promised and on time."

"Uh-huh. What did you blow up this time?"

"Pepper! I am appalled; what on Earth makes you ask such a hurtful question?"

"Tony, I love you dearly, but you are never on time. Ever. I swear you will find a way to be late your own funeral. So what did you do?"

"I love you too. So what do you want for dinner, French or Italian?"

"Tony!" He just smiles at her as the elevator arrives, idly wondering exactly why he hasn't proposed to this woman yet.


	32. 6-44: Arrangement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That’s all it is at the beginning; an arrangement and understanding between two mostly-responsible adults with loads of built-up sexual tension.

“Max!” Caroline hisses, running into the kitchen. “Some hot guy asked if you were working, so I sat him in your section.”

“Hot guy? I don’t know any hot guys, do I?” Max scoffs, poking her head out of the kitchen and searching the dining room until her eyes land on the man who had shown up at the emergency room with her sister the week before. “Oh, that hot guy.”

“Well?”

“Well what? Get back to your tables; my lack of sex life is not your personal soap opera.”

“Who is he?” Caroline needles.

“Just some guy who works with my sister.” She answers, leaving the kitchen and grabbing a menu.

“You have a sister?!” Caroline’s voice follows her. Max ignores her, making her way to the corner table; she places the menu on the table in front of him and pulls out her notepad.

“James, right?”

“Good memory.”

“Eh, it comes and it goes. Were you looking for me or is my mother in trouble with the law?”

“Is your mother usually in trouble with the law?”

“Usually just with the bill collectors; can I get you something to drink?”

“Pop, Cola if you’ve got it,” he orders with a smile.

“Comin’ right up,” she promises, slipping her receipt book back into her apron as she walks over to the soda machines, where Caroline is waiting for her, an expectant look on her face.

“Well?”

“Well what, Caroline?”

“Who is he?” she sighs.

“I told you, he’s just some guy who works with my sister, no big deal,” Max huffs, filling a cup halfway with ice before adding James’ Coca-Cola.

“And I ask again: you have a sister?!”

“Yes, I have a sister; with what you know about my mother, is that really such a big surprise?”

“I suppose not, but why haven’t you mentioned her before? I’d love to meet your sister Max.”

“Because she never used to be in town very often; she was at school, then working, and she only recently moved back to New York. Does that answer your question?” Max snaps before walking away. She spends the rest of her shift ignoring Caroline and volunteers to take the trash out after closing to make the blonde head back to the apartment without her. She wraps her coat securely around herself, tying the belt before taking the trash out into the alley, making sure the side door locks behind her before tossing the black bag into the dumpster and heading towards the main street.

As she turns onto the sidewalk she catches sight of a figure out of the corner of her eye and whirls on them, purse swinging. A hand catches her purse and she finds herself face-to-face with an obviously amused James Barnes.

“You scared the shit out of me,” she yells, snatching her purse back and slinging it over her shoulder. “What the hell are you doing lurking around here?”

“Didn’t mean to scare you,” he apologizes, “just trying to keep an eye out.”

“For what? More creepy people hiding in the dark waiting to scare broke waitresses witless?”

“Something like that,” he agrees, “mind if I walk you home? Can never be too careful this late at night.” Max eyes him warily before agreeing, falling into step next to him as they begin the six block trek in the direction of Max and Caroline’s apartment.

“Do you even know where I live?” she finally asks.

“Nope; just following your lead.”

“I see…my sister send you to the diner?”

“More or less,” he deflects, “how much do you know about what your sister does?”

“Not much. She works for some alphabet soup agency, right? You and her both.”

“We work for SHIELD,” James confirms as they stop at a corner for a red light. “We’re working on a case at the moment and we’re worried someone may have gotten into SHEILD’s secure personnel files.”

“So you were sent to what? Be my babysitter and keep me safe from spooks and shadows in the night?”

“For your information, I volunteered. Lewis wanted to bring you back to the tower.”

“Stark tower?” Max asks, stunned.

“Avengers Tower, but yes; that idea was quickly nixed after Darcy’s brief and colorful description of you. It was a majority rule that you and Stark definitely do not need to be meeting any time soon.”

“So babysitter it was.”

“I’m not your babysitter,” he protests.

“I’d hope not; I didn’t need a babysitter at seven, I definitely don’t need a babysitter at twenty-seven,” she scoffs. James doesn’t crack a smile. “Dude you seriously need to lighten up; or get laid.”

“You offering?” he responds, one eyebrow lifting slightly.

“What if I am?” Max answers, testing the waters.

“I’d warn you to be careful.”

“Be careful with what?” she inquires, turning to face him, stopping him in the middle of the sidewalk halfway to her apartment.

“Be careful what you wish for,” he murmurs, stepping towards her until she finds herself pressed against the brick wall, one of James hands pressed against the stonework next to her head, the other resting lightly on her hip. Time seems to freeze until Max makes an executive decision, lurching forward and capturing his lips with hers. He responds just the way she hoped he would, kissing back just as hard.

“I don’t know about you,” she pants in-between heated kisses, “but I could definitely use a good lay.”

“You propositioning me?” he breathes against her neck

“If you want me to be, then hell yes; you are infinitely hotter than my last ex and I have the feeling that this could be the start of a mutually beneficial friendship.”

“Friends who have sex?” he smirks.

“Yes. God yes. Sex-friends, fuck-buddies, friends-with-benefits, whatever label you want to slap on it, I don’t really care; just know that if you don’t take care of my problem now I have a perfectly good battery-operated-boyfriend in my nightstand I can use.”

She doesn’t have to.


End file.
